Breaking the Code with Caeley Looney

Cindy:  Breaking the Code with Gabriella tells the story of a young girl who overcomes gender stereotypes in robotics, cementing herself as a role model for young women. The book includes science and engineering information, such as the design process and Java tutorials. As part of our initiative to empower young girls to pursue their interests in STEM, we are running the Breaking the Code with Gabriella: Trailblazers in STEM Speaker Series, which explores the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, and math. The series aims to dispel gender stereotypes and aid young students in getting advice on how to pursue their own passions. 

 

Cindy: Today I'm here with Caeley Looney, who is an aerospace engineer currently working as a Mission Operations Engineer at Firefly Aerospace on the Blue Ghost Lunar Lander, a spacecraft that is designed to deliver 10 payloads to the lunar surface, capture X-ray images of the Earth’s magnetosphere, and investigate heat flow from the lunar interior. Looney is the founder and CEO of the Reinvented Magazine, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young women to pursue STEM careers. She aims to break boundaries by reinventing the perception of girls in science with the first print magazine for young women in STEM.

 

Cindy: Now, I'll let you give a brief introduction about yourself. Anything about your journey in STEM, your future goals, or your current interests that you think are notable. 

 

Caeley: Hi, my name is Caeley. I'm currently working as a mission operations engineer at Firefly Aerospace on our commercial lunar lander called Blue Ghost. Our first mission to land on the Moon is set to launch by the end of this year, which is really exciting. Before starting at Firefly, I was at a company called L3 Harris for 5 years, working as a space mission analyst on small satellites. Prior to that, I was in school for aerospace engineering and space systems engineering.

 

Cindy: That sounds like a super interesting path you've taken. I know you have graduated with a bachelor's in aerospace engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a master's in space systems engineering from Johns Hopkins. What inspired this passion for space, and how has that interest developed throughout your academic career?

 

Caeley: Honestly, I stumbled on space. It wasn't by any means on purpose. I was really involved in FIRST Robotics when I was in middle school and high school. I joined an all-girls robotics team, and that helped encourage me to explore all of my curiosities and passions within engineering. From there, I took a science research special topics class in my senior year of high school. My teacher knew that I loved robots, so he said, "Well, why don't we explore that a little bit further?" My first semester, I built an underwater ROV. 

 

I thought, if you like robots on land, let's think about robots in the ocean. I didn’t love it for some reason. I thought it was cool and enjoyed a little bit of the process, but to me, it wasn't as cool as working on the stuff with my robotics team. So my teacher said, “Well, have you thought about the opposite extreme? If you don't like robots underwater, what about robots that go to space?" From there, I learned more about the Mars rover and started learning about all this cool technology being sent to space. I decided to give it a try and jumped headfirst into the aerospace industry by pursuing a bachelor's in aerospace engineering. I've continued to find a deeper passion for all things space since then.

 

Cindy: That’s super interesting! It’s amazing how early experiences, especially in middle school and high school, and extracurricular activities like FIRST Robotics, can really influence your career path.

 

Caeley: Yeah, absolutely.

 

Cindy: So, currently, you're working on the Blue Ghost lunar lander. What does your day-to-day job look like, and what does working on that mission entail?

 

Caeley: My day-to-day is pretty different every single day. When I first started the job, we were still heavily into integration and testing. Our lunar lander is still in our clean room right now, so a lot of our team was focused on design review and prep reviews. My role involved developing our mission operations plan. Our mission operations plan is essentially this one large document that outlines every event and activity we're expecting the lander to perform. It includes space events like an eclipse or a blackout, and everything we might have to do as operators on the ground, all compiled into one document. This also included our payload operations, which were integrated from a document we call our payload operations plan into our mission operations plan. 

 

Caeley: That was my core focus for the first few months of my job. Once we moved further out of the integration phase and started testing, we converted the mission operations plan into procedures. These procedures are things our operators can follow during the actual mission. 

 

Caeley: Right now, with the mission operations plan nearly finalized, since we have a good idea of what we'll be doing in space, we're taking those procedures and testing them. We have our lander in the clean room and can connect to it in our mission operations center. I've been sitting on console, helping facilitate and lead these tests. We're not only testing the hardware on our lander, ensuring it can perform the tasks we require, but also training our operators. We're training them to understand what a series of events looks like, recognize anomalies on orbit, and know how to mitigate those. We're helping them understand how the lander will actually work once it's in space. One of the most interesting things I've found is that mission operations, which is my area, acts as a bridge. It forces everyone to come together and understand the lander from each other's perspectives. 

 

Caeley: If something breaks on orbit, it doesn't just impact the person responsible for that subsystem. For example, if a heater fails, another component is no longer getting heat, which could lead to a power issue, and propellant might need to be involved. My role is to work with all these subsystems during tests, helping them understand the broader impacts of their component failing and bridging the gap between subsystems. I also act a bit as a science communicator, which is really fun. 

 

Caeley: Some days, I spend my time coding or writing procedures at my desk. Other days, I spend the entire day in our mission operations center, facilitating tests. Sometimes, I'm gowned up in the clean room, working directly on the lander hardware to ensure our procedures match our expectations.

 

Cindy: That sounds super interesting—being able to account for every scenario, like a failure in one subsystem, and being able to mitigate that once you're actually on the Moon. Just out of curiosity, how many people are working on the lander in total?

 

Caeley: We have about 100 people working on the lander. Our control room specifically has about 20 seats. We'll have a fully staffed control room for a good part of the mission, especially during all our critical events. There will be 20 people on console, and the other 80 will be providing backroom support or swapping in and out on console.

 

Cindy: That sounds like a big workforce working to make this lander a reality. For young viewers interested in getting into space engineering or a space-adjacent field, what are the prominent career paths, and what advice would you give them?

 

Caeley: Honestly, it's kind of crazy because there are a lot of different career paths and interests that intersect within the world of space. Aerospace engineering is probably the most direct way to get into the space industry. However, we also need electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, biologists, and even doctors to help with astronaut activities. Our marketing team has to understand every technical part of our vocabulary so they can convey it to the public. We need science communicators and lawyers for space policy. So, if you have a passion for space but not necessarily for aerospace engineering or another specific kind of engineering or science, there's still a way to get into the space industry.

 

Caeley: My biggest piece of advice on that front, from what I've seen personally in the space industry, is that above everything else, passion and curiosity matter the most. People often say rocket science is hard, and that's true. Almost all engineering and STEM fields are hard. But at the end of the day, you can fail a test or a class and still become an aerospace engineer. Once you enter the workforce, what matters is whether you are curious, passionate, and innovative in the way you think. We don't look at your grades anymore; we look at how motivated and excited you are about the idea of exploring space.

 

Cindy: That's super inspiring! Being able to take a field you're passionate about and work in it in the future would definitely appeal to a lot of young, curious minds. So, throughout your career, what challenges have you faced as a woman in what I know is a pretty male-dominated field, specifically aerospace engineering, and how have you overcome them?

 

Caeley: I think any woman in STEM will have a good number of stories to tell on this front, unfortunately. You're right; it is still incredibly male-dominated, and I think the aerospace industry sometimes has it even worse than others. The space industry is very historically dominated by white men. If you look back at NASA's history, think about how many astronauts were women or people of color—it's very few. We're getting better over time, but that's mostly thanks to the commercial space industry versus the NASA side of things, unfortunately.

 

Caeley: As we're building out these commercial space companies, we're still getting people with a ton of knowledge—the smartest people I've ever met—from heritage space programs like NASA and various defense companies into these smaller companies and startups. They're bringing their expertise, which is great, but they're also bringing their historically biased views with them. I've found many times that I have to work extra hard, that there's a double standard between me and some of my male co-workers. What I do has to be done two, three, four, five, ten times better than some of my co-workers just to prove that I'm on the same level as others.

 

Caeley: One specific example from my past experiences was with a male mentor who was amazing. However, on the program I was working on, I would do all this work, and present my analysis, and they would constantly ask, "Have you gotten your mentor to approve this? What does he think of this?" They didn't believe I was right half the time or wouldn't trust my work because I was a woman. I saw my male co-workers, whom I was mentoring, not have to deal with that same kind of scrutiny.

 

Caeley: I was really grateful when, at one point, I told my mentor what was happening. He came to a meeting, listened to them question me directly, and said, "No, Caeley knows exactly what she's talking about. If you don't listen to her, your satellite will crash." And the whole room just went quiet. Stories like this, where women are put in a room and constantly questioned or not seen as equals, are unfortunately way too common. We need more male allies and mentors in the workforce to help stand up for us and create safer spaces.

 

Cindy: That sounds incredibly frustrating, not having your work taken seriously and seeing a completely different situation happening to your male colleagues. It sounds terrible. So, following up on that, you've been able to turn that around, and you're the founder and CEO of Reinvented Magazine, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young women to pursue STEM careers with a print magazine for women in science. What compelled you to create this organization, and what are the goals you hope to achieve?

 

Caeley: I call myself an accidental founder, but every step since the inception of this organization has not been accidental. I had just entered the workforce and was dealing with the issues I mentioned earlier. I didn't know how to change it for myself, but I knew I wanted to change it for others. I was looking for a resource as someone who was now seeing the same challenges I dealt with in college still present in the workforce.

 

Caeley: Around that time, I received my last issue of Seventeen magazine in the mail. I realized I didn't care about any of the content. It was the summer issue with the "Top 10 Hottest Men of the Summer" list, and Justin Bieber was on it somewhere. I thought, "Why don't they have magazines for women like me, who still care about some beauty and fashion but would much rather hear stories about professional women in STEM kicking butt in their fields?"

 

Caeley: I complained in a group called NCWIT, which is a women in computing group online. It's a relatively big, awesome, and supportive community. It was a midnight complaint, just a "Why doesn't a magazine exist for people like us?" kind of thing. I went to sleep, thinking it would get lost in the void of the internet. Instead, I woke up the next morning to a thousand comments and thousands of likes. A Discord server had been started by someone, and they were waiting for me to join. When I did, they were like, "Great, Caeley is here. We're ready to help make this magazine with you." I was like, "That was not an action I thought I was going to take this morning, but here we are."

 

Caeley: Five years later, we're 17 issues in. It's really crazy because we've geared our magazine towards a younger audience, but I think that's incredibly helpful. They're seeing the powerful women I now get to meet as role models, hearing their stories, advice, and career paths. They can understand what they need to do to get to a similar position, the struggles and hardships these women overcame, and how they overcame them. The magazine ends with their advice: "If you want to be in my position in five or ten years, this is exactly what I think you should do." It's become powerful to grow our readership to over 300,000 readers worldwide, who are now reading these stories of women that I get the honor of spotlighting and amplifying their voices.

 

Cindy: That sounds like an incredible journey for your magazine so far, especially being able to inspire young women in STEM in such a unique format. I'm actually part of NCWIT, at least the high school portion, so I think it's incredible to have that supportive community for women in science. Have you faced any challenges throughout the creation of the magazine, and if so, how have you overcome them?

 

Caeley: My gosh, yes. For starters, I'm an aerospace engineer and knew absolutely nothing about the world of making magazines. That was one of the biggest learning curves for me. We were able to connect with HP, who makes printers, and they helped us understand what the printing industry looked like, how to print a magazine, and what creative, artistic guidelines and layout items you need to have. They also connected us with a printer who walked us through the print process. It took several print runs before we could communicate effectively and get it right. We struggled a lot with understanding different materials and how things would come out color-wise based on the type of file submitted.

 

Caeley: The second challenge, again, I'm an aerospace engineer, not trained in nonprofit leadership. There were a lot of general gaps for me. I knew how to connect with women in STEM. I knew how to write a story because I took AP Literature and English in high school, but that was about it. I hadn't taken an English class in college. I knew how to work with others to empower them in this nonprofit, but I had no idea how to fundraise, be a leader of a virtual group of volunteers, or understand what roles and support I needed. I had no idea how to delegate or run a meeting. I was just starting out in the workforce, and there were so many things I had to learn, not just as a leader but as a nonprofit leader.

 

Caeley: I think I've come up to speed a little more since then, but it's still a big learning process. It's still a challenge, still understanding the ins and outs, and figuring out how to make the most impact with the resources I have, and how to grow those resources to continue making an even bigger impact. I think these are consistent struggles across many nonprofit organizations, but perhaps more so for me because I don't have a background or degree in nonprofit management. But I have a passion, and I have incredible volunteers who share that passion. That is truly what has brought Reinvented to where we are today.

 

Cindy: That sounds like an incredible journey. It sounds challenging at the beginning, not necessarily knowing how to get the magazine out into the world, but incredibly rewarding in the end, being able to inspire so many young women with your magazine. Another challenge you might face is balancing a full-time job with managing this nonprofit. Do you have any advice for young girls with ambitious dreams regarding time management?

 

Caeley: This is something I consistently struggle with. My boyfriend, Rob, who’s sitting over here, would probably tell you that as well. I work a full-time job, and then I come home and work what is pretty much the equivalent of a second full-time job running my nonprofit. One piece of advice I always try to tie myself back to is that there are almost 1,500 minutes in the day, and I have to believe that I am worth at least 1% of them. 

 

Caeley: This ties back to the idea of self-care and maintaining your own mental health. While I am passionate about what I do at work and love what I do, and I’m passionate about what I do at my nonprofit, it’s still so easy to get burnt out when you’re doing so much. On top of that, you have other people requesting your time and attention—friends, family, my two dogs that I would love to take on more walks or play with more often. There are so many things that pull me in a million different directions. It’s easy for me or anyone with a similar schedule to get caught up in thinking, “If I’m not working on one of those two things, I have to be focusing on something else or someone else requesting my time.” By the end of it, you forget that you also need time for yourself.

 

Caeley: So, like I said, I try to think, “1% of my day needs to be spent on me.” If I’m not worth at least 1% of my day to do something that has no impact on anyone but myself, then I’m not giving myself the love that I need. Whether that’s sitting on the couch and binge-watching a cheesy romance movie, sitting by the window eating ice cream, or just sitting outside with my dog on our back patio, it’s something that helps me refresh my mind without feeling guilty for not focusing on something else.

 

Caeley: My second piece of advice is to invest in a really good planner. I live off mine and can’t leave the house without it. I definitely encourage you to find a method of scheduling that works well for you, and then try your best to respect the boundaries of your schedule. If you don’t have something scheduled and don’t want something scheduled, save yourself the time—there’s no reason to schedule over it.

 

Cindy: Yeah, those are two great takeaways. Taking time for yourself is super important for your mental health, and it can also help with your productivity by preventing burnout. If there's one final piece of career-related advice you could give to middle schoolers across the country and around the world, what would it be and why?

 

Caeley: Yeah, okay. My number one piece of advice is that engineering is hard. You will find people in engineering, like we've already discussed, who don't think you belong there because you're a woman. Because of that, many women in STEM feel like they need to conform and hide parts of their personality because they’re "too bold" or "too pink" for the STEM workforce. In my six years in the workforce, I've found that being curious, innovative, and creative are the top three things that will get you further and help you contribute more as an engineer, no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you look like. 

 

Caeley: At the end of the day, you should never feel the need to compromise any part of yourself just to accommodate the feelings and emotions of others. You should absolutely go into work wearing your makeup and bold lipstick. You should wear pink into the office if that's how you feel. You should be putting yourself where you want to be, sharing your ideas, being creative, and not feeling like engineering has to be your whole life or that you have to look a certain way. At my nonprofit, we run a program called "Princesses with Power Tools," and the tagline is "Brilliant is Beautiful." I think that’s really key as a woman in STEM—you can do both. You can do everything. You can be brilliant and beautiful.

 

Cindy: That's some amazing advice that I'm sure young girls around the world will be delighted to hear. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. I've had a pleasure talking to you.

 

Caeley: Yeah, thank you.