Bruce points out an engineering model of the telescope on board NASA's TRACE spacecraft.

I worked as a mechanical engineer on the Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT) that launched in 1991 (on board the Japanese-US Yohkoh mission), and the Michaelson Doppler Imager (MDI) that launched in 1995 (on board the NASA-ESA SOHO Mission.) I then worked as the program engineer and chief systems engineer on NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) which launched in April 1998. I currently am the Associate Program Manager for the Solar X-Ray Imager program.

These full-size wooden mockups, looking like something from tech. classes, are used for cabling and other tests.

Likes/Dislikes About Career

The best thing about this job is that we as a team design, build and test a science instrument that will be launched into space with the intent of gaining insight into the science we are studying, namely solar physics. It gives you a great feeling of accomplishment to launch something into space, considering all of the technical challenges of building a science instrument. The best part is watching the launch itself, nothing quite like it.