What It's Like in LASP's Student Command Controller Program
Cleared for Takeoff
In the Student Command Controller Program, an undergraduate missions operations program offered by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), CU Boulder students can train to become certified mission operators for NASA spacecraft. After learning the ropes through a summer course, students work on spacecraft missions that include telescopes and nanosatellites.
Kate Mulholland (AeroEngr’26) took a special interest in mission operations after watching the film Apollo 13 at age 11. Now a command controller, she has the technical knowledge and confidence to handle complex tasks and high-stakes work.
“Being a part of the Command Controller Program is one of the most valuable experiences I have had since coming to CU Boulder,” she said.
$1 billion
worth of NASA-regulated spacecraft controlled by students
1981
The year LASP launched the Student Command Controller Program
3
Larger NASA missions involved students in 2025
24/7, 365
Spacecraft are monitored by students
50–70
Students apply each year
8–10
Students accepted
20
Number of hours per week students work during the academic year
250
Student command controllers since 1981
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- EchoStar
- Northrop Grumman
- Advanced Space
- BAE (formerly Ball Aerospace)
- LASP
- Black holes
- Supernovas
- Solar wind
- Magnetic fields
- Exoplanets
- Fine-tuning how spacecraft batteries charge
- Sending research plans to onboard instruments
- Powering mission equipment on and off
- Uploading files to increase instrument precision
Photo courtesy LASP
It is an excellent opportunity and comes with some bragging rights: your job description becomes ‘flying spaceships’!
–Adrian Bryant (MAeroEngr’27)