Influential Woman · Aerospace
Alexis Nicole Benini, Ph.D.
Subject Matter Expert, Space Ingenuity, LLC
Denver, CO
Her Story
About Alexis
Hello, I’m Dr. Alexis Nicole Benini, an Engineer Subject Matter Expert at Space Ingenuity, LLC, in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. I’m currently working as GN&C Engineer (consultant) for the Artemis Mission, in collaboration with Lockheed Martin Human Space Division and NASA Johnson Space Center.
From May 2018 to December 2023, I worked at RedWire Space (formerly Deep Space Systems Inc.) in Littleton, Colorado, where I advanced to Subject Matter Expert and Optical Navigation Capability Lead. During my final 18 months there, I supported Lockheed Martin and NASA on Artemis, assisting the GN&C and TT&V Teams. Prior to that, I led the development of the vision navigation system for the Firefly's Blue Ghost Lunar Lander as Optical Navigation Manager.
From 2017 until April 2018 I served as a Research Scientist at Germandrones GmbH in Berlin, Germany, designing and implementing navigation and control algorithms for VTOL UAVs.
Before moving to Germany, I was a Research Scientist at the Unmanned Systems Research Institute (DU2SRI) in Denver, Colorado, and also had the opportunity to teach Computer Vision as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver.
In 2014, I worked as an Algorithm Engineer at Civitanavi Systems in Italy, focusing on Inertial Navigation Systems and AHRS based on proprietary Fiber Optic Gyroscope technology.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Alexis
01What do you attribute your success to?
Passion. When I was a kid in Italy, I remember watching Space Shuttle launches on TV all the time. I would stare at the TV in my living room and just think: "Okay… I don't know what's going on, but I like it!" At that time I was around six years old. Since then, I literally made all my choices to give myself the possibility of working for NASA one day, and that's where I am now. I'm so glad that I got to where I wanted to be. I supported the Artemis II mission from the engineering room in Denver during the mission. It has been amazing, very interesting, to say the least, but also so stressful! But passion kept me going through all of it, and I am so honored to have been part of it!
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
To always be open to learn as much as possible, also from fields that apparently are not necessarily strictly related. Very often, most of the problems in engineering happen at the interfaces between subsystems, so knowing how other subsystems work is definitely always a very good advantage. That proved for me to be correct, to be right, because very often I had to interact with different teams, and most of the issues were often at the interfaces between systems.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The global space economy is experiencing a rapid expansion. This is a great moment to join it and be part of the next chapter of human exploration and expansion in space.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty and reliability are my top priorities in both work and personal life. I always strive to be my authentic self. Being true to who I am also means acknowledging my mistakes openly, without fear. I truly see every mistake as an opportunity to learn and grow, and I think that the ability to recognize when you are wrong is one of the most underrated qualities a person can have.
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