Protecting the Public: Interview with Senior Mission Flight Control Officer Sarah Nemeth

Article

“Protecting the Public: Interview with Senior Mission Flight Control Officer Sarah Nemeth,” Interview by Steve Walker
Published in Quest Volume: 33 #1 (2026)

Abstract

In the 1920s the US military was experimenting with the first “guided missiles.” These were aircraft outfitted with autopilots and bombs. There is a story that when these were flown, a Safety Officer flew alongside with a supply of bricks, to break the propeller and terminate flight if necessary, preventing the flying bomb from reaching populated areas.

To this day, there are still individuals who are responsible for protecting the public from the hazards of missiles and launch vehicles, ready to throw an electronic “brick” to terminate flight. They are often called Range Safety Officers; at Vandenberg Space Force Base, they are called Mission Flight Control Officers.

When the long-range test facility was established at Cape Canaveral Air Force base in 1950, Congress mandated that it would pose no more hazard to the public than aircraft flight. Safety programs had already been established at shorter range facilities such as White Sands, and the same methods were applied at the Cape, and when Vandenberg Air Force Base started launching in 1958, the same type of equipment and processes were deployed there.

Means for tracking the rockets were provided, and Command Destruct transmitters were available to send radio messages to the rocket to cut off thrust, and/or activate explosive charges onboard.

The people who are given the responsibility for doing this have no small burden: Terminating flight unnecessarily can waste a billion dollars or prevent a needed spacecraft from reaching orbit; on the other hand, not terminating an errant flight could lead to property damage, injuries, or deaths.

While the Space Force is requiring Range Users to transition to autonomous flight termination systems that do not require, or permit, a man or woman “in the loop,” only one Range User has made that transition thus far—and the majority of the MFCO’s work is still required for those flights.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Sarah Nemeth, Senior Mission Flight Control Officer at Vandenberg Space Force Base, on 18 January and 29 January 2025, and I gained insight into the job she performs—a job that for many years was entirely male-dominated.

Citation

Nemeth, Sarah. “Protecting the Public: Interview with Senior Mission Flight Control Officer Sarah Nemeth.” Interview by Steve Walker. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 33, no. 1 (2026): 57-67.