Constance Adams

Constance Adams is an architect who now works in the space program.

Adams studied sociology at Harvard University, then went on to yale University, where she completed a bj master's degree in architecture. After a two-year apprenticeship with Kenzo Tange Associates in Tokyo, followed by four years working in Berlin on commercial and master planning projects. In the late 1990s she was employed by Lockheed Martin Space Operations, to support the NASA’s Mars exploration research efforts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where she now lives with her family. She is a Registered Architect.

Among other projects, Adams was involved in developing the Lockheed-Martin design of an inflatable module for the International Space Station. The module, known as TransHab ("transit habitat"), was designed to provide living quarters for astronauts aboard the space station, including a common room, gymnasium, shower, etc. Budget considerations and delays, as well as politics, meant that the module failed to develop beyond the design stage.

Subsequent to the TransHab project, Adams worked on crew cabin architecture and systems design for the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle, Orbital SpacePlane and International Space Station [ISS].

In 2003 and 2004, Adams collaborated with UNDP Senior Water Policy Advisor Ingvar Andersson to organize the "Water for Two Worlds" summit at Columbia University and the UN, bringing representatives of NASA, the European Space Agency, the Columbia Earth Institute and other clean water advocacy groups to design an approach for transferring water cleansing techniques developed for spaceflight to applications that meet the Millennium Development Goals.

In 2005, Adams was named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic. From 2004 to 2010, Adams worked with the International Space Station Program Office and the Japanese Space Agency to integrate the H-II Transfer Vehicle to the ISS.

Partnered with Synthesis International, URS and Foster+Partners, Adams worked on the design of the world's first commercial spaceport terminal, the Spaceport America Terminal Facility, for the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and tenant Virgin Galactic. She is considered one of the first experts in spaceport planning, and has lectured widely in design as well as science topics.