Growing up, it was always a dream of Chloe Mehring to work for NASA. That became a reality when she was chosen as a flight director for the class of 2021.
Mehring grew up outside of the Bloomsburg area in Mifflinville. She knew at a young age she had an interest in space.
"I remember when I was in second grade at Central Columbia, we did a lesson in our science class on the solar system, and I just became really excited about space, you know, the solar system, how we went to the moon at one point, and then it just carried with me, especially to fourth grade and sixth grade, and even through high school," said Mehring.
Mehring graduated from Central Columbia High School and went on to study aerospace engineering at Penn State.
She says knowing NASA recruits from Penn State gave her a leg up at achieving her dream.
"Once I got to Penn State, you know, they had career fairs. I would go to the career fairs," Mehring said." I went straight to the NASA booth. I met a recruiter there. It was my freshman year. She said, you know, you can't apply this year but come back next year."
Mehring did, and her ambitious attitude paid off.
She started her NASA career in 2008 in the Flight Operations' Propulsion Systems group and supported 11 space shuttle missions.
Some of her most memorable events include working on the Boeing Starliner Spacecraft's first test flight, the last space shuttle mission, and working on the first test flight for the Orion vehicle that will be used for Artemis missions back to the moon, and hopefully Mars one day.
"There are still some days where I think, 'Is this real life? Did this really happen?'" Mehring said.
She has some advice for those seeking larger-than-life dreams.
"If it's something you want to do, be ambitious about it. And if it's something that you kind of come to terms with, well, maybe that's not going to happen," Mehring said. "What else can you do that still going to give you that passion? And, you know, give you that satisfaction of, you know, 'I did do what I wanted to do.'"