Constance Adams

Constance Adams is a NASA consultant and space architect, and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. Constance Adams is one of a growing number of architects who have worked at NASA in recent years on human systems, that is, the usable design of spacecraft and space missions. Having studied sociology at Harvard and received a Masters of Architecture from Yale, she spent two years apprenticing with Kenzo Tange Associates in Tokyo and an additional four years working on commercial and master planning projects in Berlin before landing at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. In the fourteen years that she has been practicing space architecture, she has developed designs for a wide array of projects, including a Crew Return Vehicle, two Mars surface habitats, a transit spacecraft [TransHab] for planetary exploration, and the Orbital Space Plane. She also had a good deal of experience with ground and flight operations, including work on planning and design for ground facilities like the Virgin Galactic Terminal Hangar Facility at Spaceport America, establishing the global ISS requirements for ground processing of space-bound cargo, and flight console and operations experience supporting payloads (NASA payloads for STS-107) and Visiting Vehicle Launch Package (HTV) functions during active flight and on-orbit crew operations phases. She has worked on design of crew hardware items for the International Space Station, including the ISS Crew Healthcare System. With her design firm, Synthesis, Ms. Adams is currently working on a process for organic systems integration in terrestrial architecture that includes sustainable buildings as well as industrial design; the Space Foundation has awarded her firm’s work with two Space Certifications and commissioned Synthesis to develop a sustainable rooftop wastewater treatment system for their Colorado headquarters. Adams has lectured widely and developed a special curriculum on the design issues related to space tourism; she is working on a book about commercial spaceflight.