On Being a Force of Nature: From Human Spaceflight Operations to Exploring Earth’s Polar Regions

Since starting her career at NASA in 1999, Ms. Hansen has served as a certified astronaut extra-vehicular activity instructor, worked on programs involving the International Space Station, Space Shuttle and the Hubble space telescope, and acted as the project manager for NASA’s Operation IceBridge — an endeavor to study Antarctic ice sheets, sea ice and glaciers.