How Christy Foster Helps NASA Advance Artemis at Stennis Space Center

Christy Foster built her path to a NASA civil service career through years of dedicated work—literally traveling miles between work and school. Today, her work at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, supports the agency’s mission to return American astronauts to the moon, build a lunar base for a permanent presence, and maintain America’s leadership in space.

From NASA Contractor to Civil Servant

After being hired in June under the agency’s workforce directive to restore core competencies, Foster transitioned from a longtime contractor to a NASA civil servant, bringing critical organizational knowledge to the agency.

“It means a lot to carry on my family’s legacy, especially after my father retired from NASA last year after nearly 20 years at Stennis,” Foster said. “It meant something to see that dream come full circle and finally come true.”

As a quality engineer, Foster manages quality assurance and engineering at the nation’s largest rocket propulsion test site. Her work focuses particularly on high-pressure gas facilities and high-pressure industrial water facilities.

The Infrastructure Behind Rocket Propulsion Testing

Known as the heart of Stennis, the gas facility produces, stores and distributes gaseous nitrogen, helium, hydrogen and air through a seven-mile pipeline that crosses the center for propulsion testing.

The water facility uses a 66-million-gallon reservoir to pump large volumes of water to test stands for cooling and noise suppression.

Foster also took on a safety role supporting assembly at the Thad Cochran Test Stand, or B-2, where Blue Origin conducts second-stage, high-temperature burn tests for its New Glenn rocket.

Her technical responsibilities include reviewing test preparation sheets, validating operational plans in the field, and ensuring process execution from the initial design stages through final completion.

“If you put safety and quality first and build it into your entire process, you’ll end up with a better product,” Foster said. “NASA promotes and proactively enforces safety, allowing us to move at a fast pace with safety at the forefront.”

Supporting NASA’s Artemis Mission

Foster applies an adaptable, mission-first mindset to her work supporting Artemis. Following the successful Artemis II mission last April, Artemis III is intended to demonstrate integrated operations between the Orion spacecraft and a test version of the Commercial Manned Landing System before Artemis IV returns astronauts to the lunar surface.

“It feels like the space race is back to its original excitement,” Foster said. “Artemis I and II were huge and successful missions. It was great to be a part of, and I’m looking forward to Artemis III and IV. I want to see humans return to the moon. I’m very excited.”

A Career Built Close to Home

Although her focus is now on returning humans to the moon, Foster’s own journey to NASA began closer to home. She completed two years at Pearl River Community College and took summer night classes at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

Her first job at Stennis was with the U.S. Navy, the largest tenant of the NASA Stennis Federal City, through an internship at the Naval Oceanographic Office.

While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in construction management and land development at Mississippi State University, Foster completed a four-week holiday internship at a construction project in Stennis.

That opportunity evolved into a demanding schedule during her senior year. Foster worked at Stennis three days a week and drove back to campus for classes the other four days.

Her hard work paid off, allowing her to work full time. Foster worked as a contractor supporting NASA projects from 2008 until her recent employment with NASA.

Inspiring the Next Generation

A resident of Poplarville, Mississippi, Foster balances her career with life on the farm. Her 12-year-old son, an avid space enthusiast, shares the same aerospace conversations with his mother that he once had with his father.

Foster helps ensure the safety and quality of propulsion testing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center while setting an example for her son and the Artemis generation.

“I’ve always lived by the adage, ‘Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.’ That’s how I’ve approached my career,” Foster said. “It takes persistence and having fun with what you’re doing. One of the great things about working with NASA at Stennis, especially in the test facility, is that you’re never doing the same thing twice. Things are always evolving.”