Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Veronica T. Pinnick Put NASA’s PACE Mission through Its Paces

A woman stands on the left side of the image, seen from the waist up. She wears a white clean suit that covers her arms, torso, and over her head. She also has on a white mask that covers her nose and mouth and blue latex gloves. Behind her and to the right in the image is a large, rectangular piece of equipment - the PACE satellite. The side of the satellite visible is black and reflects light off it. Behind the woman and PACE is a large wall that has a green gridded pattern on it.
Veronica Pinnick is an integration and test manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry

To achieve the impossible, Veronica T. Pinnick, who put NASA’s PACE mission through its prelaunch paces, says you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Name: Dr. Veronica T. Pinnick
Title: Plankton Aerosol, Cloud and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Integration and Test (I&T) manager
Formal Job Classification: Chemist
Organization: Integration and Test Branch, Electrical Engineering Division (Code 568)

What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard?

As the PACE I&T manager, I managed the build-up of the entire observatory. Integration means we put the spacecraft together. Testing means we make sure it works within itself and that it will also work in space.

Why did you become a chemist? What is your educational background?

In third grade, we did a science experiment that involved pulling out the colors of a black maker, which turned out to be a mixture of many colors. It was the first time my little science brain exploded! I learned that maybe not everything was as it first appeared, it was so cool. Years later, I now do that same experiment (chromatography) on Mars, looking at dirt and pulling it apart to see what it is made of.

I have a B.A. in chemistry from Minot State University in North Dakota. I have a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Texas A&M University. I did a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland.

How did you come to Goddard?

My post-doctoral fellowship involved a Goddard project, designing an instrument to look for life on Mars. I thought that was an interesting application of my specialty! After my fellowship, I joined Goddard in 2010 working on that same project for 10 more years.

Towards the end of that project, I became the I&T manager responsible for building, testing, and delivery of that instrument to an ESA (European Space Agency) Mars rover. During those years, I realized that I wanted to change my career path more towards engineering…

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