Growing up in Grafton, West Virginia, engrossed in Star Wars and all things science fiction, Fletcher Newell had an early interest in space exploration. That interest only grew when, in 2013, his fourth-grade class took a field trip to a nearby NASA facility he had not yet heard of - NASA's Katherine Johnson Independent Verification & Validation Facility, located in nearby. Thirteen years later, Newell and 48 of his colleagues at the facility were sworn in as NASA civil servants during a ceremony on Aug. 10.
"I had always admired NASA from afar," said Newell, who started working at IV&V as a systems engineer contractor in early 2025. "To my surprise, the agency was doing impactful work in my backyard."
During high school, he began cultivating programming skills that would lay the foundation for his future. A self-professed computer aficionado, Newell taught himself how to code. In algebra class, he discovered that his graphing calculator was programmable, leading him to create basic scripts. He quickly moved to popular software applications, learning how they were built in order to develop his own programs. Artificial intelligence was still on the brink of becoming mainstream, but he was already asking himself, "What are the more interesting things we can teach computers to do?" As a junior in 2019, the precocious programmer merged his talents with his passion for space after being accepted into IV&V's high school internship program.
Newell created a database for engineering methods, processing hundreds of documents to facilitate the work of his colleagues from a procedural aspect.
"Working as a high school intern really elevated my fascination for NASA," he said.
Following graduation in 2020, Newell headed west to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, majoring in, naturally, computer science, with a focus on AI and machine learning when both were scaling rapidly across industries and in everyday usage.
Instead of pursuing internships in the neighboring Silicon Valley - widely considered the global center for technological innovation - he returned to West Virginia for three consecutive summers, cutting his teeth at the Fairmont facility.
He began researching AI safety as engineers learned how to give spacecraft more onboard autonomy and have them learn on their own. Later, he was on a team responsible for assessing the safety of Terrain Relative Navigation, a vision-based guidance technology that could enable spacecraft to land on planetary surfaces without GPS. During his final internship, generative AI - which creates content based on user prompts - was becoming widespread, and he worked on teams exploring how to responsibly integrate it into mission assurance.
Newell also performed research about autonomous space docking at Stanford's Center for AI Safety, resulting in two publications. Following his undergraduate education, he remained at Stanford to earn a master's in computer science.
When it came time to enter the workforce, one organization was atop his list. A contractor opportunity opened up at IV&V, and he leapt at the chance.
"I enjoyed the work at IV&V back in high school and college," he said. "There's nothing better than pursuing what aligns with your interests."
As a systems engineer, he has worked primarily on mission safety and security, identifying and resolving system defects and vulnerabilities for such spacecraft as Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom, Orion, Gateway, and the Human Landing System, all while helping guide NASA's responsible adoption and development of AI systems.
His colleagues took notice of their junior member's contributions, resulting in Newell being named IV&V Engineer of the Year in 2025 less than a year into the job after identifying more than 70 issues in Gateway - and later SR-1 Freedom - with clear mission impact and, as noted in his award citation, developing a reputation for clearly articulating their implications.
"During his internships and now as a full-time engineer, Fletcher has consistently demonstrated exceptional talent, curiosity, and a passion for our mission," said Wes Deadrick, IV&V director. "He could have gone almost anywhere after Stanford. The fact that he chose to come home to build his career supporting NASA through the IV&V Program makes me incredibly proud."
The Aug. 10 ceremony for Newell and his colleagues was part of NASA's workforce directive to bring core, mission-critical positions into the civil service, from early-career professionals to seasoned technical experts.
"It's an investment in NASA's future, giving us the opportunity to bring exceptionally talented people into the civil service while strengthening long-term technical capabilities that support our nation's most challenging missions," said Deadrick. "At IV&V, initiatives like this help ensure we continue providing independent expertise and mission assurance that our customers depend on."
For Newell, as he takes this next step in his professional progression as a civil servant computer engineer, he looks forward to expanding on his responsibilities, especially to help NASA return to the Moon. He is currently helping identify safety and security issues, including ones that could impact crew safety and lead to the loss of spacecraft control, related to the agency's lunar endeavors.
"At IV&V, teams are ensuring every major lunar vehicle and system will be ready to safely embark on their missions, not just for flying around the Moon, but also for putting American boots on the surface and eventually establishing and working on a Moon Base," he said.
More than a decade after taking that field trip and now working on some of NASA's high-priority missions, Newell readily admits he didn't always envision staying in West Virginia.
"It was a little strange coming back, but I was continually getting to do amazing things at an amazing organization in a place I already know," Newell said. "And that's really cool."
