Space Suit Project Engineer
NASA Johnson Space Center

Who I Am and What I Do
Hello, my name is Amy Ross. I work on space suits at the NASA/Johnson Space Center. I like working on space suits because that means that I get to get into the suits, too. I've been in five different Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits, including the Russian space suit, and I've been in two different versions of the crew escape suit (the orange suits astronauts where when they launch and land). I've even gotten to work in the some of the suits in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL, the big water tank where astronauts train for space walks) and on the KC-135 Reduced Gravity Aircraft (the 'Vomit Comet'). Being in and working in the space suits is a neat experience! I work on advanced space suits and have worked on the Shuttle/Space station suit and crew escape suit. My title is space suit project engineer. I help design and test improvements to the space suits and new designs for Mars.

What I like best and least about my job
I like testing space suits, from the inside and outside. I don't like paperwork and bureaucracy.

One fact I'd like you to remember about me is that I try to do a good job, but I'm always learning so that I can do better.

Growing Up
I grew up in Friendswood, Texas, which is a small town about ten miles from the Johnson Space Center. We moved there from Edwards Air Force Base in California when I was in the second grade. People who live in Friendswood primarily work for the space program, or the oil business. My dad works and has worked for the space program for most of his career. (This was his dream since the fourth grade.) He shared his enthusiasm for it with my brother and I. We launched model rockets, we watched every shuttle launch, we went to work with him, and we star-gazed. His enthusiasm was contagious, and quite an influence on me. A lot of my friends' parents also worked on the space program and my brother and I went to NASA a lot with my dad. So, I was surrounded by the space program.

When I was growing up, I wanted to be a veterinarian. Instead of playing house or school, I played vet office. When I got into high school I also thought about being a librarian and working for the space program.

Every summer, when I was a kid, our family went to Indiana. My mom's parents live on a farm, so my brother, my cousins, and I would play with the animals, in the hay mow, in the creek, and in the barn. We had a great time. We had ten acres to roam all day. Plus, Grammie would feed us good farm cooking. Other people would talk about the places that they went on vacation, but I thought (and still do think) that Indiana is the best vacation spot in the world.

I read a lot. I enjoyed Madeline L'Engle, Louisa May Alcott, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM, The Lord of the Rings, The Rescuers, Dodie Smith's 101 Dalmations, Oliver Twist, and others. Reading opened up ideas, new people, new lands, and new ways of doing things for me. It made me realize that there are possibilities and encouraged me to explore those possibilities. The space program also is all about exploring possibilities, new lands, ideas, and ways of doing things.

I'm single. My pets are my kids. I have a Great Dane named Darcy. Her coloring is harlequin, which means that she looks like a Holstien cow (white with black splotches). She is BIG, but a sweety. I also have a parakeet named Henry. His singing is cheery. I'm thinking about getting two kittens, too.