Dayton Public Schools graduate studies ways to grow plants in space

September 28, 1987 is a day LaShelle Spencer will never forget.

She was six years old, standing in her empty kitchen and staring at the TV. Star Trek: The Next Generation was on. She was captivated as the fictional crew flew through space on the Starship Enterprise.

“I was in awe at the idea of being able to travel the stars in a mechanically superior ship compared to what we had at the time,” Spencer said. “The idea of that being a possibility and being a part of that was so awesome. That is when I decided I wanted to be involved in space somehow.”

Most people change their career goals several times. But not Spencer. The 2000 Stivers School for the Arts graduate held onto that dream and made it a reality. Earlier this month, NASA included her in its first #WomanofNASA post on social media to celebrate Women’s History Month.

Spencer has worked in microbiology, molecular science and analytical chemistry and was one of four women to spend 30 days in NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog. The group simulated a mission to an asteroid to study its effects on team dynamics and mental health. Now she is a horticulturist on the NASA Veggie Team.

Spencer attended Tuskegee University for mechanical engineering, but soon realized she was “not mathematically inclined.” She switched her major to plant and soil science with a focus in horticulture and interned at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. She pursued a master’s degree at Tuskegee and was asked to go back to NASA for microbiological and molecular analysis. After several years, she became a NASA horticulturist.

Her current work on the Veggie Team involves discovering ways to grow plants in the International Space Station and on the moon. She studies and grows plants in chambers that mimic conditions they would experience in space, and then harvests the plants to analyze how those conditions affected them. Another experiment involves discovering new ways to deliver water to plants in zero-gravity settings.

She has also mentored more than a dozen students who have interned at NASA. These students work alongside her on the Veggie Team.

Although she is living out her dream, she said the road was not always easy.

She once was forced to take a semester off because she could not afford to attend school. Even switching her major in college felt like a roadblock because she always envisioned herself as a NASA engineer.

“I remember thinking ‘I’ll never work at NASA because I’m bad at math,’” she said. “But even when I was at home and didn’t have any money, I still kept my mind on the prize. I didn’t get discouraged.”

Her advice to Dayton Public Schools students who might have similar dreams is to persevere.

“You can’t be discouraged by a closed door. Just turn back around and find another door,” Spencer said. “There’s always going to be someone who tells you ‘no.’ But we can’t be discouraged by that and need to keep going. We also can’t be discouraged by our failures. You’re never going to learn if everything works out flawlessly.”

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