Richard Stephenson

After studying Marine Electronic Radio and Radar at Riversdale Marine College in Liverpool UK I was hoping to follow my fathers footsteps and become a Radio Officer at sea.

In my final year, however, I was recruited by AWA Australasia who held the management contract for the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at the time. just. This was as a DSN controller for the Voyager 2 Neptune encounter in 1989.

Thirty years on I'm currently the supervisor of one of four operations teams providing 24/7 tracking support to NASA's endeavours in deep space.

In recent years I have also held the role as the DSN Controller Certification Coordinator. This follows developing a training course to provide a common benchmark for skills and knowledge for all Controllers recognised by NASA but also attaining AQF accreditation.