How a SoCal native became one of NASA’s most valuable assets

One of NASA’s most valuable assets is a Southern Californian.

Following the space agency’s successful Artemis II mission around the moon last month, Victor Glover, who grew up primarily in the Inland Empire and spent much of his career in Southern California’s many military and aviation centers, is now the only pilot to fly NASA’s Orion capsule.

While the crew finishes its work international victory lap in front of the mediaGlover is getting his head down and preparing to train the Artemis generation of astronauts traveling to the moon.

“I think Artemis will demand that we change the paradigm,” he told The Times.

He said the International Space Station, where astronaut crews have been permanently based in low-Earth orbit for more than 25 years, has a “very outdated” training program. But as the agency aggressively seeks to increase Artemis launches to every six months instead of every 3 1/2 years, developing a new training regimen for complex, high-risk lunar missions is a different beast.

“Until we really get up to speed and have a solid training program, I think astronauts need to have more ownership and involvement in training so we can share that experience,” Glover said.

As of today, List of Artemis astronauts It is only four people long. And there is only one name on the list of Artemis pilots: Victor Glover.

Glover, 50, was born in Pomona, graduated from Ontario High School and has lived “all over” Southern California’s sprawling urban area, including Baldwin Village (which he instinctively calls “the city”). Name before 1988“Forest”). He completed his undergraduate studies at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and earned master’s degrees (plural) from the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey and the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base.

He cut his teeth as a test pilot at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station in the Mojave. After NASA selected him as an astronaut, he learned to fly SpaceX’s Dragon capsule at the company’s then-headquarters in Hawthorne before taking it to the ISS.

Glover especially misses his test pilot days, where he pushed the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet to their limits while completing his master’s degree.

“This was actually probably one of the best times of my career. We gave birth to our fourth daughter while living in China Lake,” she said. “I was… working really hard, but having a lot of fun in a house full of kids.”

In one of Glover’s favorite photos, taken by his wife, he sits at his desk in a tan desert flight suit, focused on graduate work while holding one of his daughters.

Glover sees himself as just one example of how the Golden State’s deserts and coastal cities have left a lasting mark on America’s space program.

“Southern California is very uniquely positioned to help NASA,” Glover said. To help share NASA’s mission and values, “Southern California has a combination of culture and technology, and it doesn’t hurt to have Hollywood.”

(Glover fondly recalled his joy at seeing the “Iron Man” production crew, including actor and rapper Terrence Howard, wandering Edwards Air Force Base during his tenure.)

Glover, who now lives in Texas Located near NASA’s Johnson Space Center, this facility is focused on bringing SoCal sensibility and invaluable experience operating the Orion capsule to the agency’s astronaut training program.

When asked if he hoped to fly the Artemis mission again, he gave a simple answer: “No.”

There was one more thing on the to-do list.

“Tell Los Angeles that I love them and all of Southern California and that I can’t wait to get back there and visit my home state and hometown.”