Nicholas Houghton had a dream: work at NASA, maybe become an astronaut. Now he builds the stuff that keeps astronauts from becoming very dead in space - specifically, the orange pressure suits and survival gear for Artemis missions.

Houghton started as a Pathways intern and now works full-time on the Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) team at Johnson Space Center in Houston. That’s the team responsible for certifying those iconic orange suits worn during Artemis II, plus the survival hardware stitched into them.

His job? Managing the stuff that saves your butt when things go sideways - before launch, in orbit, and after a splashdown. We’re talking Crew Survival Kits, Suit-Worn Survival Suite, and Life Preserver Units. He takes each system from design through testing to final certification, ensuring they work when it counts.

Because NASA is all about teamwork, Houghton works with experts in electromagnetic interference, radiation, stress and loads, and materials to fine-tune each system. He also helps develop water survival and post-landing hardware, writes manufacturing procedures, and troubleshoots issues during integration and testing.

But it’s not just hardware - Houghton preps astronauts and recovery teams for the real deal. He supports suit-up activities, trains Department of Defense recovery forces, and joins the U.S. Navy for Underway Recovery Training to rehearse post-splashdown ops.

Ground testing is where they push systems to the breaking point to find problems before flight - because better to blow a fuse on Earth than in space.

When he’s not saving astronauts, Houghton volunteers as a firefighter and EMT. “Serving my community is something that I have always been passionate about,” he said. Because apparently, saving lives during the week isn’t enough.