• 2020 Luminary Award Winner•

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Dr. Estella Hernández Gillette’s illustrious 41-year civil service career at the NASA Johnson Space Center is the distance between where she started and what she eventually accomplished in a career notable for her lifelong commitment to STEM.

As an employee of the space agency since the days of the historic Gemini program that predates America’s first moon launch, Dr. Gillette began as a clerk-stenographer on the administrative team supporting NASA’s rocket scientists shortly after the Mexican-born young woman became a naturalized American citizen.

Through hard work, diligence, and nine years of night school, Dr. Gillette earned her bachelors degree in business administration after 22 years at NASA, but she was far from finished with her mid-life educational achievements.

As she climbed the ranks in NASA and became an indispensable part of the team across multiple positions, Dr. Gillette went on to earn a Masters in Human Resource Management and — at the age of 67 — a PH.D. in education from George Washington University.

That late-in-life degree has enabled Dr. Gillette to teach as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston and act as a consultant to the Hispanic woman-owned, Logical Innovations after her retirement from the space agency that she remains connected to through her role as Vice President of the NASA Alumni League-JSC Chapter.