Posted on Feb 27, 2009 02:14:20 AM | NASA/Seventeen Co-op | 0 Comments   

Well the day began with a rough start. As soon as we were about to the leave the hotel Ms. Munoz realized she had lost her badge which contained her ID. We tried to look around in her room for it with no luck. Then we just left with the theory that she left it in Olive Garden last night. (Turns out she did leave it there and Jenny was able to get it for her later). The first thing we did once we got into JSC was visit Josh. He was the head of the sems, and his role was flight director. He and his team were responsible for making up different failure scenarios for the sems crew to allow them to be able to deal with any situation that might come up while actually in space. Once he showed us everything in his department we got to see Heidi. She's a mission specialist who flew on the STS- 126. She was really knowledgeable and Ms. Munoz actually saw Heidi's shuttle launch this past fall! Next we met Michelle, she was a really sweet lady. She gave us a lot of good advice, such as telling us that we should always remain open to try new things even if it's something that we never would have considered doing in the past. She also knew some people at JU which was pretty cool because I might go to school there after I graduate high school. After leaving Michelle we met Ginger- What a lady! She has accomplished so much! She started out wanting to be an astronaut but her dreams were cut short when they told her she could never be one because she had kidney stones. But guess what? She got over it and went on to be the first CAP COM that wasn't an astronaut! She later became a flight director, which pretty much means she runs the show in the Mission Control Center. She taught us that a little confidence and persistence can go a long way. We left the MCC and went to the Food lab. Kimberly the food scientist, briefed us on the history of the dried out NASA food. Michelle prepared us a few different types of astronaut foods and drinks, which she then had us judge. Space food is not as tasty as one might think. Except the Mac and Cheese which was pretty good. After forcing Ms. Munoz to try green vegetables from space we went to lunch. At the cafeteria waiting for us was Kathie Thomas an astrobiologist and Shannon a flight surgeon. I was so excited to meet Kathie, because being an astrobiologist is a Big Dream of mine, and she's like the mother of Astrobiology. When we talked i hung on to her every word. There was never a dull moment in our conversation. She explained to me exactly what she does, all she has accomplished, and the criticism along the way. She is such a wonderful and inspiring women. I'm so grateful to NASA for allowing me to meet her! I think it's safe to say that besides the day I found out I won the contest, meeting Kathie was the single greatest moment of my life! She encouraged me to pursue a career in scientific research and let me know that I have what it takes to be great too just like her. The way she has dedicated her life to her research is amazing. She has no regrets and comes to work every day loving her job. She is such a strong women and is not easily influenced by the skeptics who criticize her work. It was such and honor to be in her presence soaking up all her valuble advice and information. Thank You NASA for making my Dream Come True! I also got a chance to meet Janelle Holt during lunch who was a student program specialist. She was very nice and helpful, she offered to inform me about other NASA opportunities for young people. My only regret was not talking to her longer, because as you can probably tell I was pretty much glued to Kathie. Once we finished lunch we got to go to this place which was kind of like a simulation of the environment on Mars and the Moon. It was really fun to be able to run around and pretend to be astronauts. Once we finished playing around we got to go to the Neutral Buoyancy Lab. They use the NBL to prepare astronauts for space walks (EVA's). Inside was a giant tank 102 ft. wide and 40 ft. deep. Michael gave us some background information on the NBL, and Philip gave us a tour of the whole place. We were also fortunate enough to be there in time to see Dotty any Garrett come out of the tank and they managed to sign our NASA books for us. Our final activity for the day was going to Space Center Houston. It was filled with a lot of cool activities and fun facts about NASA. Today was a great day! I'm not ready to go back to Florida! NASA's starting to feel like home.

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