Dr. Sandra Magnus is the deputy director for engineering within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and is a Guiding Coalition Member of ASCEND. She was formerly the executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She served in the NASA Astronaut Corps, where her missions included STS-135, the final Shuttle flight. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.