Debbie Trainor prepares others for great things while accomplishing her own
2014-03-26
For Women’s History Month, Johnson Space Center is honoring a few women employees whose character, courage and commitment have helped shaped them into the people they are today.
Debbie Trainor, a training lead for astronaut candidate training and facility scheduler, is no shrinking violet. When given the opportunity early in her career for a one-year training tour in Star City, Russia, she jumped on the once-in-a-lifetime chance.
“My one-year tour at the Gargarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, was a time that I believe allowed me the opportunity to exemplify [character, courage and commitment],” Trainor said. “It certainly took courage to move my young family (my daughters were 3 years and 8 months old at the time we moved) … and asking my husband to move also took courage since he was pretty established in his job. But we felt it would be a good opportunity, and it certainly took commitment to work the long hours and still maintain a family life in a place foreign to all of us. It was a great opportunity since it allowed us to share some amazing family experiences as we learned about the Russian culture, and also allowed many opportunities for professional development.”
A JSC veteran since 1985, Trainor has worked in various organizations, but has concentrated most of her efforts in the field of instruction.
“I have worked in Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance and Human Resources,” Trainor said. “But most of my time at JSC has been in MOD [Mission Operations Directorate], where I started as a Command and Data Handling training instructor. I have worked in the training organization since 1993 with varying training roles, including a one-year tour in Star City, Russia, and Increment Training integrator for Expedition 1. My most current position is training lead for astronaut candidate training, which I started in 2007 as we prepared for the 2009 ASCAN [astronaut candidate] class, and now I'm working with the 2013 ASCAN class. I also work with the MOD Common Content Training Panel to schedule common content training for MOD students.”
Trainor came to JSC by first living vicariously through the space program at Ellington Field.
“I joined the Texas Air National Guard shortly after graduation from Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena,” Trainor said. “I was stationed at Ellington Air National Guard Base and became very interested in NASA, since there was a NASA hangar at Ellington.”
Though Trainor has not followed a path typical of most women, such as entering the military and later making a dramatic move to Russia to further her career path, she sees that women have already made great strides in asserting equality in the workplace.
“Being a woman has been a challenge in some ways, as it seems that there is still some concern about how women can handle family life and a career—and there do not seem to be the same questions posed to men. Luckily, there are more women in leadership for role models, and this challenge seems to be getting better.”
True diversity is closer than ever, “but there are still some challenges to overcome, as society can tend to view strong-willed women differently than strong-willed men, and often with negative consequences,” Trainor said. “Diversity is important at NASA, since having multiple perspectives and experiences is a good thing to help an organization grow and learn from each other.”
When not training future explorers and support personnel for the rigors of spaceflight, Trainor stays active with volleyball, both indoor and outdoor. She also enjoys craftier pursuits such as scrapbooking and card making. And, of course, with a large amount of family close by, she spends time with them whenever she can.
Though Trainor leads by example, she also goes out of her way to make a positive impact in the community. She’s impassioned about allowing everyone an opportunity to succeed, no matter the barriers.
“I make sure I speak up if I feel I have a different perspective to offer,” Trainor said. “If I'm leading a group in discussion, I keep myself open to new perspectives and possibilities. I am also very active with the Hispanic Employee Resource Group (HERG). The HERG often works with the other ERGs for education outreach and to inspire young students to pursue STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] careers. Interacting with young minds is very rewarding, and we certainly hope to inspire positive change with young ideas.”
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center
Debbie Trainor, a training lead for astronaut candidate training and facility scheduler, is no shrinking violet. When given the opportunity early in her career for a one-year training tour in Star City, Russia, she jumped on the once-in-a-lifetime chance.
“My one-year tour at the Gargarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, was a time that I believe allowed me the opportunity to exemplify [character, courage and commitment],” Trainor said. “It certainly took courage to move my young family (my daughters were 3 years and 8 months old at the time we moved) … and asking my husband to move also took courage since he was pretty established in his job. But we felt it would be a good opportunity, and it certainly took commitment to work the long hours and still maintain a family life in a place foreign to all of us. It was a great opportunity since it allowed us to share some amazing family experiences as we learned about the Russian culture, and also allowed many opportunities for professional development.”
A JSC veteran since 1985, Trainor has worked in various organizations, but has concentrated most of her efforts in the field of instruction.
“I have worked in Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance and Human Resources,” Trainor said. “But most of my time at JSC has been in MOD [Mission Operations Directorate], where I started as a Command and Data Handling training instructor. I have worked in the training organization since 1993 with varying training roles, including a one-year tour in Star City, Russia, and Increment Training integrator for Expedition 1. My most current position is training lead for astronaut candidate training, which I started in 2007 as we prepared for the 2009 ASCAN [astronaut candidate] class, and now I'm working with the 2013 ASCAN class. I also work with the MOD Common Content Training Panel to schedule common content training for MOD students.”
Trainor came to JSC by first living vicariously through the space program at Ellington Field.
“I joined the Texas Air National Guard shortly after graduation from Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena,” Trainor said. “I was stationed at Ellington Air National Guard Base and became very interested in NASA, since there was a NASA hangar at Ellington.”
Though Trainor has not followed a path typical of most women, such as entering the military and later making a dramatic move to Russia to further her career path, she sees that women have already made great strides in asserting equality in the workplace.
“Being a woman has been a challenge in some ways, as it seems that there is still some concern about how women can handle family life and a career—and there do not seem to be the same questions posed to men. Luckily, there are more women in leadership for role models, and this challenge seems to be getting better.”
True diversity is closer than ever, “but there are still some challenges to overcome, as society can tend to view strong-willed women differently than strong-willed men, and often with negative consequences,” Trainor said. “Diversity is important at NASA, since having multiple perspectives and experiences is a good thing to help an organization grow and learn from each other.”
When not training future explorers and support personnel for the rigors of spaceflight, Trainor stays active with volleyball, both indoor and outdoor. She also enjoys craftier pursuits such as scrapbooking and card making. And, of course, with a large amount of family close by, she spends time with them whenever she can.
Though Trainor leads by example, she also goes out of her way to make a positive impact in the community. She’s impassioned about allowing everyone an opportunity to succeed, no matter the barriers.
“I make sure I speak up if I feel I have a different perspective to offer,” Trainor said. “If I'm leading a group in discussion, I keep myself open to new perspectives and possibilities. I am also very active with the Hispanic Employee Resource Group (HERG). The HERG often works with the other ERGs for education outreach and to inspire young students to pursue STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] careers. Interacting with young minds is very rewarding, and we certainly hope to inspire positive change with young ideas.”
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center