Who would you say inspires you?

"I have always been inspired by my grandfather. He is the person who gave me an initial interest in the aerospace field. He is the hardest working person I know, and he taught me how important it is to read and continually grow. Because of him, I always seek to learn."

While this question seems like an innocent opportunity to get to know you, interviewers know questions like these have the potential to throw candidates off their game in an interview. Your interviewer is likely interested to know who inspires you, but more importantly, they want to see how polished of an answer you can provide to an interview question that isn't necessarily related to your professional history.

An excellent way to respond to this question is by sharing a story about a person who has been a positive influence on you and your career. If your dad motivated you to push through to finish your education, talk about how that impacted you. Consider talking about the person who showed you that it was possible to overcome even the most significant obstacles. You may even want to discuss your inspiration to work in aerospace or a specific person from NASA's longstanding history of inspirational characters.