45th Space Wing Airman captures prestigious SWE Award

  • Published
  • By Chris Calkins
  • 45th Space Win Public Affairs
1st Lt. Christa Kasdorf, assigned to the 45th Launch Support Squadron, 45th
Space Wing, was recently named the Society of Women Engineer's, Space Coast
Chapter's "Distinguished New Woman Engineer of the Year Award."

Kasdorf, who was born and raised in Alexandria, Va., said serving
in the Air Force, was never in her "to-do-bucket-list" until her junior year
of high school, when she decided to pursue a Reserve Officer Training Corps
slot at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

She got the ROTC opportunity and graduated from there with a degree in
chemical engineering, and has been stationed here at the 45th Space Wing
since October, 2010.

"My father, Roy (a retired Navy commander) and my mother, Marti, took me and
my two younger brothers skiing in Colorado, and I loved the idea of going to
school there. Since I have been stationed here along the Space Coast, those
snow skiing opportunities have been few and far between," she said with a
smile.

Lt. Kasdorf said she was honored to win the award, and said her winning was
not so much about her, but about whom she works for and what their mission
is.

"What does this to mean to me? Well, when you look around at the Space Coast
and see how many talented women there are in engineering jobs with lots of
different companies, it just shows how much these people appreciate what we
do here in the 45th Space Wing and the Air Force in general," she said.

Lt. Kasdorf, who began her college years as an aerospace engineer major,
currently works as a "Spacecraft Responsible Engineer," where her duties
are to provide oversight and mission assurance to the contractor who is
doing final processing of the space craft.

The bang-for-the-buck in her job is easy for her to see, as it is for the
countless thousands here on the Space Coast who look skyward as the launch
window clicks down.

"When you have that launch "end goal" in sight, and you finally get to see it come to fruition, that's what brings meaning to the work we do every day and the small contributions we each get to make."

"I consider myself lucky to do what I do. I consider myself lucky to be in
the Air Force, and I can't thank the total team in the 45th Launch Support
Squadron enough for what they have done to support me, and everyone in our
squadron.

Mission success indeed.