I meticulously schedule the world's most powerful space telescope, the James Webb, so we can capture the cosmos in ways we've never seen before

Tue, 10/31/2023 - 11:49

A woman smiles in front of NASA's DSN Goldstone complex. — Kari Bosley is in charge of planning when giant satellites will make contact with the James Webb Space Telescope as it moves through outerspace.
Kari Bosley

Kari Bosley is the lead mission planner for the James Webb Space Telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
She was told growing up she couldn't be part of aviation because of her gender.
She was a stay-at-home mom before she revived her career to work on the world's most powerful telescope.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kari Bosley, about her career as lead mission planner for the James Webb Space Telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which partners with NASA to run missions. It has been edited for length and clarity.