NASA Ames names three November 2026 Stars of the Month

NASA’s Ames Research Center Science Directorate named Alyssa Villanueva, Steve Howell, and Samuel LeBlanc as its Stars of the Month for November 2026, according to an announcement dated Nov. 12, 2026. The release says their dedication to NASA embodies an entrepreneurial spirit, technical skill, and teamwork required for exploring Earth and beyond.

Villanueva works as an engineer at Blue Marble within the Space Biosciences Division at NASA Ames, where she is part of the LEIA team, and LEIA stands for Lunar Explorer Instrument for space biology Applications, an instrument tied to lunar biology applications. NASA cited her technical excellence, dedication, and boundless support to the rest of the team as the reason for her space biosciences star recognition, and NASA Ames cites these personal qualities as the reason for her recognition. NASA said her daily contributions to LEIA exceed normal expectations. Her work on testing, particularly engineering validation testing preparation and execution, is singled out as especially important within the broader LEIA development effort.

Howell brings experience leading science teams on many international space missions, and NASA Ames highlights this background across multiple international missions. NASA states that his instrumentation work has pushed forward imaging capabilities for telescopes operating in space and on the ground. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific recently honored his career with its Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal, and the medal is mentioned in the same announcement section that discusses his astrophysics work.

NASA says his exceptional technical leadership and innovative thinking improve the center’s flight planning capabilities for airborne science missions, and NASA Ames ties his recognition to improvements in how the center plans airborne science flights. His work puts Ames at the leading edge of flight planning for airborne science across the agency and among external organizations.

Those planning advances result in successful, cost-effective NASA airborne science missions that maximize scientific returns. NASA also photographed the November 2026 honorees left to right as Alyssa Villanueva, Steve Howell, and Samuel LeBlanc. The opening sentence of the announcement includes a parenthetical noting the pictured sequence of the individuals recognized by the Science Directorate, and the announcement organizes the honorees by discipline-specific star titles.