*LAHORE: *Hibah Rehmani survived the Gulf war, lived as a refugee inJordan, and then went on to become an avionics engineer at the UnitedStates’ National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA).
Rehmani was born in Pakistan but moved to Kuwait with her family when shewas only a month old. That was until war broke out in the country. WhenIraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, she had to flee with her family to a refugeecamp near the Iraq-Jordan border. The night her family reached the refugeecamp, there were no tents available. Her family had to spend the nightsunder the open desert sky.
“My fondest memory growing up is taking walks with my family at night.Looking up at the sky I was fascinated by the moon and the stars. It wasaround this time I developed a passion for science, space, and astronomy,”said Rehmani.
“It was a tough time for us, one of the things I remember from that nightwas gazing at the sky, the moon and stars, while trying to sleep on thecold desert sand. That was when I realised that I wanted to be in aprofession where I could discover space.”
Her father was in the US at the time of the invasion, and after a briefstay in Jordan, she travelled with her mother and sister to Pakistan, wherethe family reunited. They stayed in Pakistan for a year before eventuallymoving to the US, where Hibah was able to pursue her dream of becoming anengineer at the University of Central Florida (UCF). After graduating, shestarted working for Boeing, which assigned her to work at the Kennedy SpaceCenter as a systems engineer for the International Space Station (ISS).
Read Top Stories
“I was involved with integrated testing of ISS components and sometimesastronauts would stop by to either view or participate in the testing. Itwas then when I got more interested in this line of work and applied toNASA. I was fortunate and blessed enough to be selected by NASA.”
“While working full time at the Kennedy Space Center, I obtained an MS inelectrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech,” she said. In 2008,Rahmani accepted her current position at NASA’s Engineering and TechnologyDirectorate at Kennedy.
“I work as an avionic and flight controls engineer and support NASA’sLaunch Services Program, working on expendable launch vehicles and rockets.
