During the Saturn V days, a 10-year-old boy came to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., with his dad and uncle for an open house.

There to shake that young boy's hand was Wernher von Braun, the first center director of Marshall who would later be hailed as one of the all-time champions of space exploration.

That day, as S1 stage engines ignited every hour in the test stand, something ignited in that little boy, as well -- a dream to one day work "at one of the coolest places" he'd ever been. Today, he's living that dream.

That boy was Garry Lyles, now responsible for the overall system design of the most powerful rocket in history -- NASA's Space Launch System (SLS).

Only with a vehicle of this magnitude will America be able to explore deep space destinations, including Mars. And as chief engineer of the SLS Program, Lyles keeps his experienced engineering eye on progress toward that first mission in 2017.

"It's funny - at that open house all those years ago, I didn't think much about being an engineer, but Marshall sure did impress me as an exciting place to work," Lyles recalls.

"Later on when I was in high school, I had a couple of friends who wanted to be engineers. The only thing we knew then was engineers designed things, and that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to create things.

"We all decided to go to engineering school. I took one of those career aptitude tests, and according to it, the probability of me making passing grades in engineering was relatively low. But that just made me want it more. I said, 'You know what? I'll show you.'"

And "show" he has, with a successful, near 38-year career at Marshall.

"I was lucky enough to start working for NASA when a lot of the Saturn vehicle designers were still here," Lyles remembers. "I was in a very unique situation where I was the one of the few young guys around, and we were able to learn from very experienced engineers who had been on the front end of the Saturn design.

"The other good part of my career is that I came in near the front end of the Space Shuttle Development Program," he added.

"I had one particular engineer who was my primary mentor -- Tom Winstead -- a very, very smart engineer. In working with him for eight years, I not only learned how to be a better engineer, but I also learned how to communicate much better. I learned a lot of patience in communication, which helps me tremendously in my current position."

Lyles' job is to integrate the different elements of the SLS into a design that will fly successfully and safely beyond low-Earth orbit. The elements include the boosters, engines, core stage and Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS). The ICPS will boost the Orion spacecraft to its correct altitude and trajectory to check out vital systems during the initial test flights.

"That design is held in what we call a technical baseline, and I'm responsible for that technical baseline," Lyles said. "I'm really the only one that can change the technical configuration of the launch vehicle. If there are schedule impacts or cost impacts to any of those design changes, I must work those back up through the program manager."

Lyles also chairs a design organization, which includes all the engineering disciplines -- things like systems engineering, loads and environments, flight mechanics, and operation production and tests. He also is responsible for each element's system design.

"All of the element chief engineers report up through me for their elements," Lyles said. "And then we integrate it at my level with all the other engineering disciplines."

"Rockets are a complicated piece of equipment," he said. "A lot of the complexity is how all the pieces and parts work together. What I've found is a lot of what makes the rocket work is not just the physics. It's the people."

For his work in engineering, Lyles has received numerous awards, including one recently that celebrates the great man he shook hands with as a boy -- the prestigious Von Braun Memorial Award for Astronautics Engineering.

"It's surreal," Lyles said. "When you're standing up accepting an award like that, it doesn't feel like you. It's humbling. In reality, you don't know why you get an award like that. I always feel like that kind of award should go to a team of people. From the time I got here, I've worked with some outstanding engineers."

So what drives an award-winning engineer every day, both personally and professionally? Simply, it's the challenge.

"I like to do very different things and learn new things," Lyles said. "I'm an introvert. I have to talk a lot at work. I'm in meetings all day talking to people. Things I like to do away from work are quiet things. I like to get out and hike -- be by myself. I rejuvenate that way."

Lyles also taught himself how to fly fish in trout streams in Pennsylvania and western Maryland, where his wife's family resides. He spent a year constructing a banjo, which he is learning how to play old-time songs, like "Soldier's Joy."

"As far as my career goes, I wouldn't change a thing," Lyles said. "I've been so fortunate. I've always wanted to be in the middle of the biggest project at the center, and then carry it all the way through flight. When we get to the end, this will probably be the proudest thing I've ever participated on."

The first flight test of the SLS in 2017 will feature a configuration for a 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit to test the performance of the integrated system. As the SLS evolves, it will provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130-metric-tons (143-tons) to enable missions even farther into our solar system.