Ray Lundquist – ISIM Systems Manager, NASA

Ray Lundquist was the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) Systems engineer and manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Lundquist has over 33 years of experience in the engineering industry. Throughout his time at Goddard, Lundquist has been involved with pre-concept, development, operations, and checkout of several missions.

In Lundquist's current role on the James Webb Space Telescope mission he manages a team and strives to find elegant solutions to tough problems. "We try to steer the team to the best solution," said Lundquist. "That's not always the easiest, but we try to find the most elegant that will meet all of the driving requirements."

Growing up in Long Island, New York, Lundquist's father was a boat builder and boat yard owner. Lundquist helped with maintenance of boats in the yard, and the assembly of boats in the shop. His mother worked as a movie theater manager. Lundquist was first inspired to pursue a career in engineering when he was watching the Apollo launch with his family in the third grade.

After receiving his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University. Lundquist began his career at Goddard with the contractor Engineering Economics Research Inc. performing Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis for the for Cosmic Background Exporer (COBE). While working at Goddard, he received his Masters in Mechanical Engineering from George Washington University.

During his time at Goddard, Lundquist has supported many missions. He developed the umbilical power and control racks for COBE, the Power Switching and Distribution Units for The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the launch lock control electronics for the Broad Band X-ray Telescope (BBXRT), supported Integration and Testing for the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer Earth Probe Satellite (TOMS/EP), and served as the Hubble Servicing mission's systems engineer for servicing missions SM2, SM3A, SM3B, and the Hubble On-Orbit System Test (HOST). He supported training in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston during the Hubble extra-vehicular activity (EVA) training of the astronauts.

He feels lucky to have seen four shuttle launches. During the SM2 mission he watched as the Space Shuttle and the Hubble Telescope flew in formation in the early morning sky as they passed directly overhead on their final approach before rendezvous. At the end of the SM3B Hubble mission, he was in Houston for the shuttle re-entry and recalls watching it in the morning sky, "It was like watching the longest, brightest shooting star you'll ever see. The bright orange ionized contrail blazed over the full horizon for what seemed minutes," said Lundquist. "That was the end of my career on Hubble and then I came over to Webb in 2002.

On his commute into work he listens to audio books. So far, on his drives to Goddard he has listened to over 100 books. In his spare time, he enjoys writing, gardening, landscaping, biking and hiking.