{
  "id": 17068147,
  "title": "Contractor to Civil Servant: NASA Welcomes Jared Spiers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/contractor-to-civil-servant-nasa-welcomes-jared-spiers",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-29T13:27:34.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "NASA",
    "slug": "nasa",
    "url": "https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/stennis/contractor-to-civil-servant-jared-spiers/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Jared Spiers, an electrical engineering technician at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, is now a full-time civil servant for the agency. Spiers, who grew up near Stennis, has long been interested in contributing to NASA’s mission. After graduating high school and earning degrees in instrumentation, electronics, and electrical technology from Pearl River Community College in 2017, he began working at Stennis as a contractor in the following month. His work at the Thad Cochran Test Stand, originally built for testing Saturn V rocket stages during the Apollo Program, helped prepare for the Artemis I mission, which sent the first astronauts around the Moon in April 2023. Since transitioning to a civil servant role last summer, Spiers has been part of the team testing Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, supporting NASA’s goal of sending humans to the Moon and building a Moon Base. As an electrical engineering technician, Spiers ensures facility electronics are operational and operates cabling, instruments, and motor valves. He takes great pride in his work, which is crucial to NASA's mission. Spiers' family has a strong connection to NASA as well. His father and brother-in-law are also NASA civil servants. His six-year-old son is convinced he works at the International Space Station, and his daughter calls him at work to ask about the rocket. As a veteran employee, Spiers mentors incoming staff and shares his path to NASA with community college students, instilling the importance of technical skills and a strong work ethic in the agency's mission.",
  "summary": "Jared Spiers had an interest in contributing to NASA’s mission long before becoming a civil servant for the agency. Growing up close to NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and hearing about his father’s work there, he gained a firsthand connection to the nation’s space program. Before graduating high school, he knew […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}