Resilience, Rockets, and Reinvention: An Interview with Zhanna Nazaryan

An interview with Zhanna Nazaryan, Principal Manufacturing Engineer at Rocket Lab.Zhanna has built an impressive career across some of the world’s leading aerospace and advanced manufacturing organizations, including Rocket Lab, Blue Origin, Boeing, GKN Aerospace, Alcoa, and Apollo Manufacturing. Her expertise spans spacecraft composites, manufacturing engineering, quality systems, metrology, production scaling, advanced materials, and aerospace operations.At Rocket Lab, Zhanna leads advanced composite manufacturing and thermal protection systems for spacecraft production, helping develop the processes, tooling, materials, and manufacturing strategies needed to build flight-ready hardware at scale. Prior to Rocket Lab, she worked on major aerospace programs at Blue Origin and Boeing, supporting everything from testing and production readiness to quality assurance and manufacturing optimization.Throughout her career, Zhanna has specialized in transforming complex engineering challenges into practical manufacturing solutions while driving quality, efficiency, and innovation in highly demanding environments.Her journey offers a unique perspective on what it takes to move from engineering concepts to reliable spacecraft production—and why manufacturing excellence is such a critical part of the space industry.Hosts:  SpaceBase Founder Emeline Paat-DahlstromResources:Society of Women EngineersWomen in Space Aotearoa New ZealandNASA Lessons Learned SystemSupport the show