Victor Luo Is Making NASA Cool for Coders

“We’re in the VHS stage of VR—the brick-phone stage,” says Victor Luo, with a laugh. He’s the lead project manager for the OpsLab at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Luo works on the space agency’s virtual- and augmented-reality projects, enabling engineers here on Earth to design virtual space shuttles in 3D and then assist astronauts on the real shuttles orbiting outside the atmosphere. In 2013, Luo was instrumental in rolling out NASA’s first console video game, and he consults regularly on Hollywood projects. Not bad for only 32 years old.

Born in Beijing to engineer parents, Luo left the mainland for Hong Kong when he was 4, then moved to Indiana a year later, where his father studied for a master’s degree. When he was 9, the family moved to Silicon Valley.