Hutchinson, Kan. – The Ray and Stella Dillon Lecture Series at Hutchinson Community College will open its 2023 series with NASA veteran and STEM ambassador Ginger Kerrick on Tuesday, February 21 at 10:30 am at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Kerrick served in numerous leadership roles for NASA, including flight operations assistant director for the International Space Station (ISS), flight integration division chief and deputy director of the exploration integration and science directorate. She retired from NASA in September 2021 after 30 years of service.
She became the first female Hispanic flight director in the history of NASA in 2005. In 2001, she was selected as the first non-astronaut capcom (short for Capsule Communicator), the person in Mission Control that speaks to the on-orbit crew. She served as NASA’s first Russian Training Integration instructor in 1997, providing support to the first crew that would live onboard the ISS.
Kerrick began working for NASA as a summer intern in 1991 for Johnson Space Center and started her first permanent assignment in May 1994 as a materials research engineer. In 1995, she was reassigned to the Mission Operations Directorate as an instructor for the ISS Environmental and Life Support System, training both astronauts and flight controllers.
Tickets to the lecture are available now at www.hutchcc.edu/dls and will also be available beginning at 9:45 am the day of the lecture at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Kerrick will appear at a press conference for members of the media prior to the lecture. The press conference is scheduled at 9:45 a.m. in the Media Interview Room of the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
2023 is the 42nd season for the Dillon Lecture Series on the HutchCC Campus. For more information on the Dillon Lecture Series or to become a patron, visit www.hutchcc.edu/dls or call Becky Rogers at 620-665-3505.
