Meet: Juan Rivera

What I do (asked in 1996)
My job title is airborne telescope operator for NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). Because there are only four of us, I can claim to be the world's oldest! I am resposible for operating the telescope in flight and monitoring all the various systems that make it work. On the ground I do maintenance of the telescope and its various systems such as high-pressure air compressors, cryogenics, power amplifiers, etc.

How I got here
The short version is that I spent 13 years as a televison news technician and cameraman. I am a commercial airplane and helicopter pilot and always kept my eyes open for interesting aviation-related stories the station could do. While working at KTVU I learned of the KAO and managed to get a ride on it while doing a news story about it. After covering drive-by shootings, hostage situations, and every other type of bad news for 13 years I finally burned out on TV news and six years later here I am.

Why I do what I do
My personal motivation was to get involved in a project that I thought had some socially redeeming value and offered an opportunity to fly and travel. Television is a funny medium. You work really hard and have very little to show for it since it's over and done as soon as the news is over. It's hard to look back and see what you have accomplished over the years in TV. This project can point to some important discoveries, etc. They will be there long after the players are gone.

My future
This next 12 months will be interesting since the company I work for is competing along with two others for a NASA contract. As soon as a winner is selected by NASA, that company will take over what is now two contracts run by two companies. Everything will be reorganized and people will be shifted around, some will be let go, and some new people will be hired, etc. My goal is to try to become more involved in electronic maintenance, which is where my experience is.

Personal tidbits
I am a heavy-rescue specialist and an emergency medical technician. I am a member of the NASA Ames Research Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team. We are trained to respond to major emergencies at NASA Ames and the surrounding communities. We train in high-angle rescue (rappeling off of cliffs or the sides of buildings), confined-space rescue (where people are trapped under collapsed concrete structures such as the Cypress Freeway during the Loma Prieta Earthquake), and emergency medicine. I also have a part-time business.

My hobbies include computers and radio-controlled model helicopters. I am an active radio amateur. Also, I have worked as an aircraft mechanic for five years for United Airlines and as a radio broadcast engineer for a number of years prior to moving into television. I built this country's first bilingual Spanish/English educational FM radio station in Santa Rosa, California, KBBF.