(gentle music) - One of the best parts about my job is the fact that we don't have to keep it to ourself.

The purpose is to share it with the public.

That gives me immense fulfillment in the work that I do.

At a place like NASA and JPL, I don't feel like I'm contributing to a product.

Instead, I'm contributing to history and finding ways to make sure that our home stays our home.

My name is Janelle Wellons and I'm an instrument operations systems engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

(gentle music) Here at JPL, it's my job to operate the scientific instruments that we put on all of the space robotics that we send to places like Mars and Saturn and even to observe our own planet Earth.

When people think about NASA and JPL and the work that we do here, their minds go straight to going to all these different worlds, sending a spacecraft out of our solar system.

But a large body of work that is also done here is dedicated to Earth, which should matter a lot for us earthlings.

I've been here at JPL for five years, and in those five years I have had the amazing opportunity to work on missions to Saturn, the moon and of course, Earth as well.

And in that time I've operated seven different instruments, all unique in their own way that have let us observe and learn more about those locations.

This is my favorite picture of Saturn taken by the Cassini spacecraft.

And what makes this picture so special to me is the fact that my team members actually signed it.

The people and the signatures you see, we were there at the end of the mission when Cassini burned up in the atmosphere of Saturn.

And I'll cherish this for a very long time.

(lively music) I grew up in New Jersey.

My interests were in art.

I loved to just draw, color things in.

I was also a huge fan, continue to be a huge fan of reading.

I mean, favorite books are like "Harry Potter," "The Hunger Games," and also huge into video games.

And I love how immersive those worlds really are.

You feel like you're in a different place.

When I was in high school, running was like breathing to me and I absolutely love this sport because it was about digging deeper within yourself.

When you run, it's all about what's going on in your mind and what's going on in your heart.

Running is a chance to be one with my body and to just see where I'll take myself.

(gentle music) I remember when I first started here at JPL.

I kind of didn't feel like I fit in.

I didn't really see many people who looked like me working as an engineer on things that actually went to space.

And so because of that, I decided to join forces with some friends that I made in order to build a community so that diverse people could get together, learn from each other, and cheer each other on.

I've done whatever I could to give back, so I started to visit schools, speaking to students about how they too could have an entire career in STEM.

And this work has just led me to so many opportunities to spread the word and really just inspire kids to reach for the stars.

(lively music)