{"id":242933,"date":"2025-06-28T02:01:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T16:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=881245"},"modified":"2025-06-28T02:01:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T16:01:02","slug":"sophia-roberts-showcasing-the-cosmos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=242933","title":{"rendered":"Sophia Roberts: Showcasing the Cosmos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Astrophysics Science Video Producer \u2013 Goddard Space Flight Center<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Growing up in Detroit with a camera in her hand, Sophia Roberts \u2014 now an award-winning astrophysics science video producer\u2014never imagined that one day her path would wind through clean rooms, vacuum chambers, and even a beryllium mine. But framing the final frontier sometimes requires traveling through some of Earth\u2019s less-explored corners.<\/p>\n

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Sophia Roberts is an astrophysics Science video producer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She films space hardware assembly and explains complicated topics, weaving science and art together.<\/div>\n
Credit: Courtesy of Sophia Roberts<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sophia received her first camera from her father, a photography enthusiast, when she was just five or six years old. \u201cI\u2019ve basically been snapping away ever since!\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

With a natural curiosity and enthusiasm for science, Sophia pursued a degree in biology at Oberlin College in Ohio. There, she discovered that she could blend her two passions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI often lingered in lab sessions, not to finish an experiment but to photograph it,\u201d Sophia says. \u201cI had an epiphany at the beginning of class one day, which always opened with clips from BBC nature documentaries. I decided right then that I would be one of the people who make those videos one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Part of Sophia’s role currently involves documenting NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is taking shape and being tested at NASA Goddard. She captured a cosmic selfie while photographing the telescope’s primary mirror, which was designed and built by L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York, before it was integrated with other components.<\/div>\n
Credit: NASA\/Sophia Roberts<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

She initially thought that meant wildlife filmmaking\u2014perched in a blind on a mountainside, waiting hours for an animal to appear. That dream led her to Montana State University, where she learned to blend scientific rigor with visual storytelling through their science and natural history filmmaking master\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

While completing her degree, Sophia worked as a traveling presenter for the Montana Space Grant Consortium. \u201cI was mainly giving presentations about NASA missions and showing kids beautiful images of space,\u201d she says. \u201cThat was my first true introduction to NASA. I loved being able to watch the children\u2019s eyes light up when they saw what\u2019s out there in space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophia then completed an internship at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of Natural History while completing her thesis. Once she graduated, she landed a year-long fellowship at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as an Earth science news fellow. In this role, she focused on packaging up stories through satellite imagery and explanations. <\/p>\n

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\"Sophia<\/a><\/figure>
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Sophia holds a Webby award she, Mike McClare (left), and Michael Starobin (right) won for their broadcasts of the James Webb Space Telescope’s launch, deployment, and first images.<\/div>\n
Credit: James Hartley<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

She leaned into her videography skills in her next role, as part of NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope team. <\/p>\n

\u201cWebb is one of my great loves in life,\u201d she says. \u201cI learned to negotiate with engineers for the perfect shot, navigate NASA\u2019s protocols, and work with mission partners. I only spent five years on Webb, but it feels like it was half my life. Still\u2014it was everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

That mission took her to some unforgettable places, like a mine in Delta, Utah, where raw material for Webb\u2019s mirrors was unearthed. “It was this giant, spiral pit where they were mining beryllium at just 0.02% concentration,\u201d Sophia says. The process was as otherworldly as the location.<\/p>\n

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\"Drone<\/a><\/figure>
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In 2021, Sophia traveled to Delta, Utah to capture behind-the-scenes footage of raw material for the James Webb Space Telescope’s mirrors being unearthed. In this gif, a drone captures an aerial view of the site.<\/div>\n
Credit: Scott Rogers<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

She also documented thermal vacuum testing at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston in a giant pill-shaped chamber with a 40-foot round door. \u201cI had to take confined space training to crawl around in the area underneath the chamber,\u201d she says. \u201cIt felt like spelunking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once Webb launched, Sophia pivoted to covering many of NASA\u2019s smaller astrophysics missions along with the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. These days, she can often be found gowned up in a \u201cbunny suit\u201d in the largest clean room at Goddard to document space telescope assembly, or in a studio recording science explanations. <\/p>\n

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Sophia stands in the largest clean room at Goddard, where she documents space hardware coming together. <\/div>\n
Credit: NASA\/Chris Gunn<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“I love capturing the visual stories and helping fill in the gaps to help people understand NASA research,\u201d Sophia says. \u201cI try to focus on the things that will get people excited about the science so they’ll stop scrolling to find out more.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sophia, the process is often as exhilarating as the result. \u201cI love venturing out to remote places where science is being done,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019d love to film a balloon launch in Antarctica someday!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Sophia<\/a><\/figure>
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Jacob Pinter (left), host of NASA\u2019s Curious Universe Podcast, leads a discussion with Sophia Roberts (center), a NASA video producer who documented the Webb project, and Paul Geithner (right), former deputy project manager for NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope, following a screening of the new NASA+ documentary \u201cCosmic Dawn: The Untold Story of the James Webb Space Telescope,\u201d Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at the Greenbelt Cinema in Greenbelt, Md. Featuring never-before-seen footage, Cosmic Dawn offers an unprecedented glimpse into Webb’s assembly, testing, and launch. <\/div>\n
Credit: NASA\/Joel Kowsky<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

To others who dream of pursuing a similar career, Sophia recommends diving in headfirst. \u201cWith cameras readily available and free online platforms, it’s never been easier to get into the media,\u201d she says. \u201cYou just have to be careful to research your topic and sources, making sure you really know what you’re sharing and understand that science is always evolving as we learn more.\u201d And Sophia emphasizes how important storytelling is for conveying information, especially when it\u2019s as complex as astrophysics. \u201cStudying science is wonderful, but I also think helping people visualize it is magical.\u201d <\/p>\n

By Ashley Balzer<\/strong>
<\/strong>NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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