Jared Spiers, an electrical engineering technician at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, transitioned from contractor to civil servant in June 2026, NASA reported on Oct. 29, 2026. The move came under the administrator's directive to strengthen technical core competencies within the civil service workforce.

Spiers graduated from Pearl River Community College in 2017 with three associate degrees, in instrumentation, electronics and electrical technology, and began work at Stennis as a contractor the following Monday. He contributed to the Thad Cochran Test Stand (B-1/B-2), helping prepare it for the Green Run test series of the first Space Launch System core stage before the Artemis I flight. On his 12-hour shifts beginning at 6 a.m., he now helps prepare the stand for stage testing of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.

His father, Joey Spiers, also moved from longtime contractor to civil servant during the summer as an electrical engineering technician, and brother-in-law Brock Sheppard joined in September as a mechanical engineering technician. Spiers spoke about his path at NASA's Career Technical Education Day at Stennis in September.