John Paul Yabraian ‘92 loves looking up at the stars. Lying on his back, tracing the constellations with his fingertips, he would stare up at the sky for hours as a highschooler. And now, decades later, he watches the same stars, just for a different reason: training the people who are going to live among them.
Just a couple months ago, Yabraian watched as Crew 11—four astronauts he’d spent the past year training—rocket past the stratosphere. For Yabraian, launches like those, ones that he’s been a part of, are exhilarating. They’re the culmination of a journey that started with weekly Astronomy club meetings in the school planetarium in the 90s.
This winding career path, from space enthusiast to mission controller to astronaut trainer to his current role in the Artemis lunar program, spans 26 years, countless simulations, and an enduring love for space.
In his sophomore year, Yabraian, who used to keep to himself so he could focus on his studies, started to come out of his shell and explore what the school had to offer. Searching for interesting clubs, he stumbled upon a group of students huddled around an old telescope in the school’s observatory.
The Astronomy Club, filled with peers who also loved looking up at the night sky, became his community. They would discuss the visible constellations of the month, watch astronomical phenomena, and perform light shows with lasers and mirrors for friends and faculty.
Dr. Thomas K. McCarthy, the club sponsor, would give them opportunities to go on short field trips to the McDonald’s Observatory in West Texas. A few times a year, Yabraiain and the rest of the Astronomy Club would drive up to Atoka, Oklahoma and set up camp in the middle of an open field. In the cold Oklahoma air, the group of star-fanatics would stay up all night watching the stars together.
“Dr. McCarthy didn’t have to do that stuff—take us on field trips to stargaze—but he loved it,” Yabraian said. “And he passed that same spirit to us.”
But despite his interest in space since he was young, Yabraian never thought he was going to be an astronomer after college. He definitely didn’t think that he would be at NASA.
At 25, Yabraian reluctantly took a mission control job at NASA, thinking he was going to try it out and maybe stay for a couple years. Yabraian remembers walking into the same control room where flight directors worked together to bring back the Apollo 13 mission safely. His eyes scanned the room filled with headsets, data plots and monitors. This was the room where history was made. And now, it was where Yabraian would work.
“I was part of a new generation that has accomplished so much, and I wanted to carry that forward,” Yabraian said. “Getting this opportunity, I just found myself on a continuum of responsibility.”
Becoming a flight controller isn’t something that just happens, though. Yabraian spent three years getting fully certified, starting as a back room controller who monitors the thermal system on the International Space Station (ISS). The job comes with immense pressure: dealing with sudden emergencies, being responsible for multi-million dollar spacecraft and most importantly, taking care of the people hundreds of miles away from Earth.
But what Yabraian remembers the most about mission control weren’t the stressful moments. It was the caring culture.
“It’s actually not a cutthroat environment,” he said. “Everyone there is working towards the same mission. You want everyone else to succeed, because their success equals your success, which equals the mission’s success.”
In 2003, less than a year after his full certification, Yabraian felt that caring community come together to support each other after a disaster. On Feb. 1, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on its descent back from the ISS, killing all seven astronauts on board. After the incident, former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara drove down to the Mission Control Room and talked with the flight operators, giving them their support.
Their visit made Yabraian realize how significant and important his work was; there’s a lot of weight that comes with the job.
He knew how diligently the astronauts worked in preparation for space travel because he had been helping them by running elaborate simulations for them in his field. After working for a couple years in mission control, he took another step into a line of work that he found more sustainable and meaningful. He started to train the astronauts themselves.
Many know that the astronaut selection process is very meticulous. When Yabraian started training crew members on life support and thermal systems, he realized how competent his students were. Some had medical degrees or PhDs and others were fighter pilots and Navy Seals.
“On this particular thing, on my part of the space station, I knew more than them,” Yabraian said. “But I had to be confident in my own abilities. These people challenge your knowledge and ask deep questions, and you have to know enough to earn their trust when you answer them.”
For a year and a half, Yabraian worked with a crew and trained them in his field so they could live full time on the ISS. He believes the biggest challenge for aspiring astronauts is the sheer amount of information they have to take in. So he drilled the information in them, spending time with his mentees and growing closer to them as the term progressed. A few weeks ago, a group of four that he spent the past year with launched to stay on the ISS for the next couple of months. For two members of the crew, it was their first time ever going up to space.
“Anytime there’s a rocket launch, I get a little bit nervous,” Yabraian said. “But I’m also really proud once they get up there, because I know how hard those astronauts have trained for it.” —
Today, Yabraian is part of a new NASA project, the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon and eventually establish a permanent presence there. Serving as a liaison between NASA and large commercial space companies building the lunar landers, Yabraian is drawing on decades of experience with the ISS to monitor designs and make sure they meet NASA’s operational requirements.
“It’s been a job that’s evolved so much that it continues to challenge me,” Yabraian said. “There’s always been something new to work on.”
This year marks the 25th anniversary of continuous human presence on the ISS; for Yabraian’s entire adult life, there have been people living in space. And in 2030, the ISS will be retired. The Artemis program is the next phase for both NASA and the development of human spaceflight. Yabraian hopes that by the time he retires, space will be more accessible to all.
Yabraian will always be mesmerized by the night sky, just like he was 34 years ago in the school observatory.
But now, he knows that among the stars, his trainees are up there in the ISS, looking down on Earth. On him.
