Erin Edwards is a member of the Crew Operations Office at NASA, where she and her team manage training schedules for astronaut candidates. This includes conducting field medical exercises, land survival training, and underwater operations at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston. She also designs and tests new training programs to ensure the crews are always mission-ready.
In addition to her role in the Crew Operations Office, Edwards also works as a capsule communicator, or capcom, and instructor at the International Space Station Mission Control Center. As a capcom, she is responsible for being fluent in the language of the spacecraft and its operations to effectively communicate critical information to the crew, especially during dynamic operations.
Originally from Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada, Erin Edwards has been working at NASA for two years, with a three-year term with the military. Her path to NASA was quite unexpected, as she transitioned from being a Canadian military pilot, serving as an aircraft commander on the CH-146 Griffon in the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. An opportunity to work in the astronaut office as a capcom came up a few years ago, and Edwards, a self-proclaimed space nerd, saw it as an incredible opportunity to pursue her passion for space exploration. After applying and interviewing for the position, she was eventually posted to NASA’s Johnson Space Center as the first Canadian non-astronaut to serve as a capcom and later as an operations officer.
Original Source: NASA