Kurt used to be quiet and shy as a child. But he found his voice along with his passion while working in the NASA Swamp Works lab on software for robots and other systems that could someday help us live off the land on Mars during manned exploration missions. He started at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center 26 years ago as a young college intern and then graduated to electronics failure analysis investigator. Then he worked as a software developer and tester for several command and control systems and advisory systems. Now he performs exploration research and technology development for NASA. That’s tech-speak for preparing the way for humans to live on Mars!

The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is one of ten National Aeronautics and Space Administration field centers. Since December 1968, Kennedy Space Center has been NASA's primary launch center of human spaceflight. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources, and even own facilities on each other's property. Though the first Apollo flights, and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from CCAFS, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission. Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions, researches food production and In-Situ Resource Utilization for off-Earth exploration, and more. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015. There are about 700 facilities grouped across the center's 144,000 acres. Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525 ft tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronaut crew quarters, and 3-mile-long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site.