Meet: Ron Woods

Who I Am
My name is Ron Woods and I have worked in the space program since 1967.   All through the Apollo program I worked as a Space Suit Technician. My job was to take care of all of the space suits. This included all of the maintenance and suiting up the astronauts for their assigned missions. I have been very fortunate to be a part of the space program and to see it develop over the years into what it is today!

What I do
I work in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at Kennedy in the Flight Crew Equipment office. My team and I finalize each space suit package that is delivered from Houston. We are the last check point before the equipment is sent to the United Space Alliance (USA) to be packaged for each mission. We also prepare any equipment that the astronauts will use for the duration of their mission. This consists of everything in the crew module,  mid-deck,  air lock (where the space suits are stored) and bathroom area. We also prepare all of the seats, communications equipment, oxygen equipment, food, sleeping accommodations, T.V. cameras, tools, and aircamera with which the astronauts can fly around the orbiter to view areas outside of the vehicle. We also maintain the launch/entry suits (the orange space suits) that the astronauts use. These are some examples of how diverse our job is. Keep in mind that each mission comes with different requirements and we support all of those special requirements.

My Career Journey
I graduated from Minot High School, North Dakota in 1964 and the University of Houston in 1977 with a degree in Fine Arts. After graduating from High School I joined the United States Army. My job in the military was a parachute rigger with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. I maintained and packed the parachutes that the were used by the Divisions paratroopers. I was also jump-qualified so I stood behind my product!  This experience led to a job opportunity in Houston as a Survival Technician. I accepted that job and began working at Kennedy Space Center in 1967. I worked right across from the space suit organization. I started working with that organization performing heat-load tests, treadmill tests, and suiting up the astronauts for Apollo 8, 11, 15 and all the SkyLab missions as well as Apollo Soyez. I later became involved with the development of the Shuttle space suits.

Personal Information
I love to paint portraits of anything related to space craft and space suits. To give you an example, I painted the picture in the background of the photograph in this biography. I also enjoy NASCAR and reading space history.

Influences
The Army was a big influence in my life. I liked my job and I liked the people that I worked with. Many of the people I worked with in NASA influenced my career path. Joe Schmidt was the first person to put anyone in a space craft. He was very thorough and experienced. He was reponsible for putting the astronauts in the first flights of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs!

Likes About Career
I love the diversity of my job and the people that I work with!

Advice
Study hard in school and try to be as diverse as possible in life. All of the experience that you gain will be used at some point in your life!