Beginnings and Endings

By David McBride
Center Director
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

April 12 is a significant date in space history. On that day in 1961, Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space. On that same day in 1981, NASA launched space shuttle Columbia on its maiden voyage into space, marking not only America’s return to space but also the first flight of the nation’s new shuttle transportation system. The shuttle was the first – and so far, only – reusable spacecraft, itself an extraordinary accomplishment. Dryden played a major role in the development of this system.

Image: Space shuttle Columbia comes in for the STS-1 landing at Edwards Air Force Base on April 14, 1981.

Yesterday NASA announced the four locations where the existing orbiters will be put on permanent display once the program draws to a close. It may appear to many as though the shuttle’s retirement means an end to American space-faring, but that is a shortsighted perspective. We took a six-year break between the final Apollo mission and the launch of the first shuttle, during which time no American flew in space. NASA’s current focus is on transferring the space launch business to private enterprise, and during that time we will continue to launch Americans into space in cooperation with our Russian partners.

Through all this, Dryden has remained involved in our nation’s space initiative. It was a pattern that was set in the late 1950s with the X-15 program then continued through the 60s and 70s with the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, lifting bodies, Approach and Landing Tests for the space shuttle, right down through our direct support of the shuttle program as the missions were flown. Our role hasn’t merely been one of support, however; we have been directly involved in aerospace innovation. The first integrated scramjet was demonstrated here, opening new possibilities for access to space, and Dryden plays a central role in the Flight Opportunities Program, which is part of the president’s new plan for NASA. And of course we were the center responsible for testing the Pad Abort system for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. Even now Dryden engineers are at work on new ways to gain access to space, through research on electromagnetic acceleration down a rail and airborne rocket launches into low-Earth orbit.

We are not done perfecting the science of flight. There are many new discoveries waiting to be made through flight research programs. Just as our predecessors united for a common cause, we, too, are looking ahead, developing next-generation aircraft that are more environmentally friendly and systems that will take us to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit.

As the primary backup-landing site for the shuttle program, we stand ready to support the final two missions. While some hope for a landing at Edwards so they can say goodbye to an old friend, I look for the inspiration to be found in all that we’ve accomplished, and the challenges that lie ahead as we do it all over again.

Getting The Word Out

By Sarah Merlin
NASA Dryden Public Affairs
Assistant Editor/Tybrin Corp.
NASA pilots talk to the public at an air show exhibit.
NASA is known the world over as a workplace filled with the best scientific and technical brains ever to fire up an experiment. The agency’s engineers and scientists have spawned some of the most incredible and far-reaching discoveries ever made in the fields of research and space exploration, and in this new era, they show no signs of slowing down.

Image: NASA Dryden pilot Nils Larson, left, and photographer Jim Ross sign photos at the Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.

Fortunately for people like me, though, you don’t necessarily have to be good at math to have a great job at NASA. Sometimes I think working in my office, public affairs, is one of the best jobs a liberal arts graduate could have – the chance to use your education and experience as a writer, editor or journalist to connect the American public with the achievements of the best scientists in the country.

It’s our job to provide the media and the public with information about what NASA does. When NASA was established in 1958, the idea that the American public should know about the agency’s achievements was considered so important that it was written into the founding charter as part of the mission. So that’s what our job is: spreading that information to as many people as we possibly can beyond a strictly technical audience and, in the process, hopefully stimulating interest in what are known as the “STEM” disciplines – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – among young people who will be NASA’s next generation of scientists and engineers. At air shows, in print publications, on TV and the Web, at schools and community events large and small across the country, we’re doing everything we can to tell America about all the great things NASA scientists do. And in more than eight years of working here, I’m happy to say that few things in my professional life have been more rewarding than standing in a NASA exhibit at a hot Midwestern air show, sharing information with a public that overwhelmingly seems to love its space agency. Anytime our research pilots volunteer to help out by joining us at those air shows, the line for their autographs is out the door all day.

Our challenge is turning information that’s most often really technical in nature into terms that are friendly to a general-readership audience. My background as a print journalist and an English major helps a lot. In journalism, you’re called on every day to boil down the high points of one topic or another, and do it as briefly and accurately as possible. (Using proper grammar and spelling!) That kind of background is ideal for what we do in our office: we learn about an aircraft or a research project or a new technology, and then write about it in ways that are clear and accessible to a wide variety of readers. It might be for a reporter interested in doing a more in-depth piece about a project or aircraft. It might be for a teacher who wants to incorporate information derived through NASA research into a classroom science lesson. Or it might just be for an average guy or girl out there who’s loved airplanes ever since he or she can remember. Whoever it’s for, we want to tell them whatever they want to know about NASA’s work.

Here at Dryden and all across NASA, our rock star engineers and pilots make the job great. In our office, we’re so proud of everything they do and it’s a privilege to be in a position to help get the word out about their groundbreaking accomplishments. Our goal is to tell as many taxpayers as we can about the advancements being made in their name, and to live up to our mission as it was spelled out in the NASA charter. Me, I’m better off leaving the scientific breakthroughs to the math whizzes.

Laminar Flow and the Holy Grail

By Al Bowers
Associate Director for Research
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

For aerospace engineers, the holy grail of low drag means conquering laminar flow. NASA (and the NACA before us) has spent a LOT of effort and money to make laminar flow work in real-world applications, which would mean dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency.

Image: The black test section of the upper wing skin on this NASA Gulfstream III research aircraft has a line of miniscule bumps at the leading edge that allows the boundary layer airflow to remain stable and smooth over most of the wing’s upper surface. The tiny vertical airfoils mounted outboard of the black test section are vortex generators that keep the airflow attached over the wing surface at cruising speed.

Laminar flow is essentially the way airflow travels above and below wing surfaces. A certain amount of air turbulence occurs on the surface of most aircraft wings, regardless of their shape and size. As air moves across a wing, it’s altered by the friction between it and the wing’s surface, changing from a laminar, or smooth, flow at the forward area to more turbulent flow toward the trailing edge. The ideal would be laminar airflow across the entire surface of the wing with no sign of turbulence, which hinders flying performance by increasing aerodynamic drag and fuel consumption.

In various efforts dating back decades, NASA has attempted to achieve that ideal. Research by the NACA began in the 1930s with smoke trails photographed in a Langley wind tunnel and continued through the 1990s using such test beds as a Lockheed JetStar and an F-16XL. Today, a new program is getting under way at NASA Dryden that will use the center’s Gulfstream III aircraft and build on the work of the world’s most knowledgeable researchers in this area, Bill Saric and Helen Reed of Texas A&M University.

The idea Saric and Reed had is so good it’s simply sheer genius. It’s a known fact that if airflow is excited to a HIGHER frequency than the unstable frequency, waves are stable. Let me say that again: if waves are excited to a higher frequency, airflow is stable; that is, it remains laminar and does not immediately break down and transition to turbulent flow.

Saric and Reed’s simple but brilliant idea was to put bumps on the laminar-flow part of a test wing. By carefully adapting the size of the bumps to the depth of the boundary layer (that part of the air flowing next to the skin of the wing), a stable wave can be established in the boundary layer and this allows the flow to remain laminar for long runs (30 to 50 percent of the upper surface) over the wing. The Air Force Research Laboratory issued a grant to Saric and Reed for an experiment that flew to Mach 0.3, a lift coefficient of 0, and a Reynolds number of about 7 million, and showed laminar flow back to about 70 percent over a 30-degree swept wing.

Fay Collier, NASA’s expert in laminar flow, was so interested in their idea that he wanted to pursue it further. He was instrumental in getting the Gulfstream project funded to see whether laminar flow could be sustained at the full cruise flight conditions of a modern airliner. The goal will be to achieve significant runs of laminar flow at Mach 0.75, a lift coefficient of 0.3, Reynolds numbers of 25-30 million with laminar flow back to 60 percent over a 30-degree swept wing. These numbers correspond to those of medium-size airliners – somewhere between a 737 and 757. Dryden’s team will be focused on achieving that goal for NASA.

To do the job, NASA needed an airplane that had properties similar to aircraft in this size range and could be flown cost-effectively. The Gulfstream III fit a lot of the criteria. The G-III’s wing is big, and the aircraft cruises easily at the necessary flight conditions. Most important, should NASA achieve the proposed laminar flow runs, the promise of a 20-30 percent reduction in fuel burn might save a lot of fuel and energy.

Okay. Those of you who are truly interested in the technical aspects of all this and want to dive into the real nuts and bolts, keep reading.

So what was the big hold-up in the research all these years? Making laminar flow work in the real world isn’t easy. Minor imperfections in manufacture – things like ripples, wrinkles, rivet heads, bugs, small imperfections in shape, waves in the wing – all prevent laminar flow. Worse, many of these imperfections can be invisible in casual inspection by observers, and prevent laminar flow. And even if all these problems could be solved, it’s still possible to fail in achieving significant runs of laminar flow. It turns out that to cruise at Mach 0.7 to 0.8, the sweep of the wing is an enemy to laminar flow. And cruising at Mach 0.7 to Mach 0.8 is where we want to cruise with modern airliners.

In a straight wing, airflow is “pulled” along from the leading edge of the wing to near the wing’s point of maximum thickness, and this helps promote laminar flow. At the maximum thickness, airflow is at its lowest pressure (the low pressure on the upper surface is lower than that of the lower surface, and this pressure difference is the lift; discovery of this phenomena is attributed to eighteenth-century Dutch-Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli). From the max thickness point back to the trailing edge, the air is increasing in pressure. This can be thought of as the air “coasting” uphill against the pressure. As the air does this, the subtle variations in the smoothness of the air are amplified. These small perturbations cause waves in the boundary layer and the flow abruptly breaks down and becomes turbulent. This turbulent flow “scrubs” against the surface of the wing and causes the skin-friction drag of the wing to rise dramatically. Turbulent flow isn’t all bad, as the additional energy in the boundary layer helps prevent flow separation from the surface of the wing (which would cause even more drag than the increased skin friction of turbulent flow). To maximize the amount of laminar flow on a straight wing, designers use very carefully tailored shapes to move the maximum thickness very far aft on the wing. Laminar flow runs of 70 percent on the upper surface and nearly 100 percent on the lower surface are possible if caution is used. The resulting drag is very low compared to conventional turbulent airfoils producing the same lift, as much as 70 percent less. So all this is on the straight wing.

A swept wing, which is necessary for flight at high Mach numbers (like Mach 0.7 to 0.8), has a different problem. In this case, the swept leading edge causes an immediate transition from laminar to turbulent flow. The culprit is called crossflow transition. As the flow meets the leading edge, it’s easier for the air to move along the leading edge with the sweep than for it to move over the wing, as it would have on an unswept (or straight) wing. So the flow starts out moving towards the wing tip, and then it curves over the upper or lower surface and finally moves aft toward the trailing edge. But once the flow starts out toward the tip in crossflow the boundary layer transitions from laminar to turbulent and, once transitioned, it is nearly impossible to make the airflow laminar or smooth again.

Remember those unstable “waves” in the airflow on the straight wing? The unstable waves in crossflow can be calculated, and are dependent on flight condition. One oddity is that these waves are inherent in the air, and not related specifically to the size of the aircraft; waves don’t scale up or down with the size of the aircraft – wavelength is an inherent property of air. So a T-38 and a 747 (if they had the same wing sweep and wing shape) would experience the same wavelength and pattern.

Saric and Reed’s idea resolved the question of what to do about these unstable crossflow waves. With the latest Gulfstream research effort, Dryden hopes to build on their accomplishments as well as on NASA/NACA laminar-flow research spanning nearly 80 years. Here’s hoping that we’re getting closer and closer to that holy grail of ideal conditions and greatly improved fuel efficiency, which will pay off in the form of reduced cost for all kinds of air travel.

On My Way Home

There’s a new face in Dryden’s Employee Assistance Program office – a furry one. EAP manager Kathleen Christian has begun introducing a standard poodle named Ella into her work counseling employees and their families, and decided to share the experience in a blog. Through Ella’s perspective and her own, in coming weeks Dr. Christian will share the story of Ella the Therapy Dog’s arrival, training and impact at the center.

The use of animals in therapy is a growing practice. Wide-ranging clinical studies of its effectiveness have verified significant and positive results. Trained therapy animals like Ella are turning up in hospitals, nursing homes, counseling centers and elsewhere – anyplace they can offer human colleagues the comfort of a friendly nuzzle and some warm companionship. Follow Ella’s story here and help welcome her to Dryden!

 

 

Ella, NASA Dryden therapy dog on the right, plays with her canine friend Jack.

Ella, NASA Dryden therapy dog on the right, plays with her canine friend Jack

 

On My Way Home

10/8/10 – I could feel that this day would be different. No breakfast. Then a bath. I don’t like them.  I don’t like the grooming table, the brush, the scissors. Everything moves too fast. Two women came in a car. I liked them because I got to get down off the table and play. The women talked for a long time. I think they were talking about me. After awhile She put a rope on me. She took me outside and put me in the car. She sat with me in the back seat, and I liked that. She knew how to hug me the way standard poodles like me like to be hugged. It made me feel better. She said that someday soon we would go to work and that we would help people. I have no idea what that means. I don’t think dogs help people, and I think She may be confused about that.

 

After a long time we get out of the car. She says this place is home. I play with another dog, named Jack. He is kind to me and doesn’t growl or bite. Jack is showing me how to run really fast and jump down to the grass below, run some more and jump up to the path above. There are many new things to see and do and eat at home. Lots of trees, grass, stairs, flowers and sticks. She says not to eat the flowers. She doesn’t want me to eat the rocks, either. The horses scare me, but the cats don’t. I can hear chickens, but I can’t see them. All the other animals are on the other side of the fence. Sometimes I bark at them. She says not to. I do it anyway.

 

She takes me in the car almost every day. One day we walk down a street where there are a lot of cars and sounds. There are some ladies with red hats on coming out of a place that smells good. We walk toward them. The first lady talks very, very loud in a high voice that makes me nervous. The lady walks fast over to me, stares at me and her hands come fast toward my face. There is another lady behind her making barking noises like a small dog. I sit next to Her; I want to run, but She doesn’t run, so I try hard to be still. She looks down and I can tell She is uncomfortable, too. She tells the lady I’m a puppy and maybe the lady needs to leave me alone today. We walk away. I’m glad we are leaving. She tells me she is sorry, that was the wrong place to go.

 

I never knew there was this kind of world. I feel tired. She lets me sleep as much as I want to and lets me sleep at night on her bed. I really like that. She says when I go to work I am going to meet a lot more people and that I might help some of them. I’m not sure how that will happen. I don’t think she does, either.

 

Kathy’s note: Ella seems to be making a great transition. Although I have raised many dogs, I am a little bit surprised at her demeanor with people. She is definitely not a wiggly, jumping-on-everyone puppy. I think the best word to use for her is “contemplative.” Unfortunately, there is a fine line between contemplative and afraid. At such a young age, this training will ask a lot from her. Her ability to trust me implicitly will be a critical element, and I realize that the energy I project when greeting people will make a big difference. I am looking forward to her first day at work on Oct. 18. I expect surprises and challenges for both of us. As a therapy dog at NASA, there will be many situations she will have to handle. She will need to learn to deal effectively with employees under a tremendous amount of stress, not to mention all varieties of aircraft, associated equipment and facilities and all the smells, sights and sounds that accompany them. The adventure begins!

 

Next: Ella’s first day at work.

Meet Ella – NASA Dryden’s new therapy dog

By Kathy Christian
Employee Assistance Program
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Dryden's therapy dog

I am a clinical psychologist at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. I have been manager of the center’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for 12 years. 

Image Right:  Ella, NASA Dryden’s new therapy dog.

The EAP office at DFRC is staffed by two individuals, a pre-doctoral intern named Monique and myself. We provide psychological services to employees and their dependents for problems such as depression and anxiety. We are also involved with consultations with supervisors and managers regarding employee-related problems. We lead the Critical Incident Stress Management Team and are also part of the Emergency Operations Center, which is lead by the Office of Protective Services. We are involved in training of employees on a variety of topics, from workplace violence to stress and burnout.  

During my time at Dryden, I have made it my goal to provide a confidential service that employees view as supporting the center’s mission. A healthy workplace is made up of employees who have good morale and whose stress is under control. I believe that the success of the EAP can be determined, in part, by the impact it has on these factors.

I have always tried to look for ways to create the best EAP office possible. I look for ways to leverage my 27 years as a psychologist to help make Dryden a great place to work. There are people who have doubts as to the usefulness of such services, but it is my experience that they are in the minority.

About six months ago I read about Arnold the Therapy Dog. Arnold is an English mastiff that is owned and handled by Jon Fishman, who provides his services to employees and their dependents at Edwards Air Force Base. It has been said that he is the only individual on the base who can visit the air base commander without an appointment. That says a lot in a military setting, I think.

The use of animals to help humans has a long and distinguished history. Most people are aware of guide dogs for the blind and hearing ear dogs. These are called service dogs, and they are most often utilized in situations where one specially trained dog provides specific services to one human partner.  
 
The therapeutic use of dogs (and other animals) reaches much farther, however, and also includes what have come to be called therapy dogs, used by one handler for the benefit of many people. Studies have shown that nursing home residents who are given their meals in view of an aquarium consume more food and gain more weight than those served their meals in their room or in a dining area. This has a big impact on their health and overall well-being. Individuals in hospitals where therapy dogs are utilized often recover faster and report less pain during recovery. The list of the positive effect of animals on humans is long. I wondered what sort of unique effect a therapy dog might have in a workplace like Dryden.

I have been around dogs my entire life. When I was in college, I started raising and showing Australian shepherds. I was involved in conformation, obedience and herding-dog competitions. I also became involved in those activities with border collies. These are two very smart breeds and I had a really great time with this hobby for about 20 years. Marriage, children and work came along, and I had less and less time for my hobby. Today my only dog is a border collie named Jack.

When I read about Arnold, I started to think of my own work at NASA and wondered whether having a therapy dog like Arnold might bring another dimension of services to the EAP program. I set about doing a lot of research in order to “get smart.”

I pitched the idea to leaders here at the center and got their approval to give my idea a try. I had been thinking about what kind of dog would be the best to choose. Often, therapy dogs are adopted from a shelter or the Humane Society. After a lot of research I decided that I wanted to get a young dog and the breed best suited for this endeavor would be a standard poodle. For those not familiar, this breed is known for many things, among them their intelligence and solid temperament. They don’t shed and so are far less likely to trigger an allergic response in humans. I had never had contact with this breed, but from talking to others who had and with breeders, I decided to give them a try.

I did some more research and found a woman who had very young puppies and a few older dogs. She took great pains to make sure that her dogs were of the highest caliber, both in physical health and temperament. I spoke with her on the phone and told her I was looking for a therapy dog candidate. She told me she had a six-month-old black female that she thought would make an ideal therapy dog. I drove to her home and met Ella. Needless to say, Ella came home with me. This would be a true adventure. I had done my homework and read several books on training a therapy dog. In my previous experiences with dogs, the relationship in terms of their work was one of “human-commands-canine.” In the world of therapy dogs, though, the partnership is different. It might best be described as  “human presents canine that interfaces with other humans.” I believed I was ready for the challenge.

By the end of her first week at work, it was clear that Ella’s impact on Dryden Flight Research Center would far exceed my expectations. Monique and I were honestly amazed. The reaction to even the idea of a dog at the center was immediate, wide-spread and almost exclusively positive. This was going to be a truly incredible journey—one I knew would be a challenge as well as a learning experience for all involved.  

I thought it would be a good idea to share this journey with others, and wondered if a blog might be a good way to do so. So many factors would be involved—Ella’s impact on the employees, the employees’ impact on Ella—and all of the challenges and lessons that surely lay ahead for Ella and me. I thought about all the ways that I could share the experiences leading up to the ultimate impact of one dog on a community of NASA employees. I decided that it was through her eyes that this blog might make the most sense. With what I was coming to realize is her patience-beyond-her-six-months-on-this-planet wisdom, I had a strong feeling she would blossom into this role which, for all of us involved, might prove to be life-changing.

Art Meets Aerospace

(Editor’s Note – NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Dryden Flight Research Center are among aerospace facilities featured in an artistic photography exhibit on display through Feb. 12 at the Blythe Projects gallery, 5797 Washington Blvd., Culver City, Calif. In the following blog, the photographer shares some of his thoughts on creating the imagery.)  

By Michael Salvatore Tierney
Photographer

When I grew up in Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s, both of my parents were employed by Hughes Aircraft. The elusive and mysterious aerospace industry was at the core of my young life. My persistent desire to revisit and explore the industry that informed me personally and shaped so much of the Southern California landscape led me to create my Aerospace series.

Image above right: the Mars rover Curiosity captured during assembly in a JPL clean room.

Developments that have come out of this industry have had a profound effect on us as a region, a nation and a culture. Aerospace has been a crucible for some of man’s greatest scientific and technological achievements. It struck me that many Californians go about their daily lives mere miles from where these marvels are being carefully orchestrated, without even knowing of their existence.

The rich history and current developments in the aerospace industry lent themselves perfectly to this project. My quest led me to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, JPL, Caltech and Edwards Air Force Base, all of which Shuttleare in Southern California. I was able to explore and photograph groundbreaking achievements of the past and the most phenomenal dreams for the future.

Image right: Space shuttle Discovery encased in the Mate-Demate Device at Dryden in September 2009.

I explored these institutions from strictly a fine-art point of view rather than through the eyes of a documentarian. By deconstructing the images and rebuilding them digitally, I was able to instill the photos with both a sense of memory and obscurity. It was an honor to create images that present an innovative approach to viewing aerospace. Exhibiting the works in a contemporary fine art arena has allowed me to introduce aerospace to an audience not fully aware of this evolving phenomenon

Talking Science with Bill Nye

One of the best parts of my job is sharing with the public the details of our many research projects. On occasion, we get to meet some really cool people.

Bill Nye interviews Bob MeyerImage right:  MatKaplan, Media Producer for the Planetary Society, records video as BillNye The Science Guy interviews Pam Marcum, lead SOFIA scientist and BobMeyer, SOFIA program manager in front of the German-built infraredtelescope mounted inside the 747SP aircraft.

Just last week, Bill Nye The Science Guy paid a visit to our facilities to conduct interviews for an upcoming program for the Planetary Society. The focus of his visit was to learn more about the SOFIA, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. As his host, I was curious to see what he was going to be like in real life. I wondered if he was really into the science, or if it was just some act he put on to make a few bucks. Let me tell you, it is no act!

As I greeted Bill and his colleague Mat Kaplan from the Planetary Society in the parking lot, before we could even finish exchanging greetings Bill had to show me the new Volt he was test-driving for General Motors. He was jazzed about the technology behind this vehicle and had to point out all the cool features. 

As we went inside the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, small crowds of curious bystanders started shadowing us as we walked through the hallways and hangar. Young and old, technicians, physicists, administrative and professional staff alike, the reaction of those he passed was the same: awe, admiration and sheer excitement at getting to see and meet The Science Guy! Many of our staff commented to Bill that his whimsical and often humorous approach to science had been instrumental in motivating them to choose their career paths. Now, they had an opportunity to repay the favor by showing Bill a thing or two about what they are doing in support of making great astronomical discoveries with the SOFIA.

Bill Nye and Kevin Rohrer

Image right:  Bill Nye The ScienceGuy takes a break from conducting interviews with the SOFIA team andposed for this fun photo with Kevin Rohrer, NASA Dryden public affairsteam lead.

Bill and Mat seemed to spend as much time learning about the modified 747SP aircraft and the 2.5-meter infrared telescope it carries as they did conducting interviews. Bill noted that, as an engineer, before achieving celebrity status he’d actually helped design portions of the aircraft. “How cool is that?!” he noted.

As we were giving them a background briefing on the SOFIA science aspects, you could see Bill’s mind wandering into the unknown…what discoveries would this team make, how would the telescope complement other ground-based instruments…will they let me fly the plane?

The walk-through tour of the aircraft brought out both the engineer and scientist in Bill. His interview questions of Bob Meyer, SOFIA program manager, and Pam Marcum, lead SOFIA scientist, were on target and are sure to make an exciting program for the Planetary Society. The story should be posted to their website, www.planetary.org, in a few weeks.

Kevin Rohrer, Public Affairs Team Lead

Making The Grade

11/12/10 –

  This is the end of my fourth week at work. There are so many new things I get to see and do. The people aren’t so anxious, and they don’t lean down so fast when they see me. She seems calmer, too. The people know my name. I like to hear it down the hallways and when they come into Her office. When we walk into the big buildings, I hear my name come from out of doorways, or from far down the hall. Sometimes we stop and talk to the people. They touch me and I like that a lot.

  Image right:  It’s official! Ella gets a badge and she’s ready to go to work.

  I feel good here. I like to walk out ahead of Her, but She tells me to come back by Her side. I don’t need Her so much anymore. I have lots of people now; luckily, they don’t come home with us – I think they just stay here until we come back.  

  Today we went to a place to get my badge. A nice man in a blue uniform took my picture. The picture is on a piece of plastic now. It is just like Hers. It makes me feel proud, and really part of the pack here.
 

  Kathy’s note – Unlike service dogs such as guide dogs for the blind, therapy dogs often start their career as adults. They are sometimes acquired from animal shelters or other rescue organizations. Starting Ella’s training when she was a six-month-old pup means that it may take a bit longer than normal to know whether she has the kind of temperament that will make her good at this. She can be tested for certification after she is one year old. But even if she passes those first tests, it doesn’t mean she will have the kind of positive impact I hope for.  

  Ella’s first weeks have been exciting. She has blossomed from being reserved and rather overwhelmed to being overtly happy and welcoming to most of the people she meets. In fact, it is now time to start the next phase of training. She is very good on the leash, but now she is starting to want to walk ahead and take the lead. I understand that not everyone wants to touch her, and so she has to learn to wait to be told by me that she can greet someone. I am struggling with her initiative. Like working with a shy or uncertain child just coming out of their shell, there is a point at which some discipline must be applied. Timing will be very important. I think I’ll wait for a few more weeks; I don’t want to start too soon lest she become discouraged.

  Image right:  Ella gets some cyber-security tips from Dryden officer Joe Coram.

  Ella had her first encounter with an aircraft tug, a substantial and noisy machine. She was unfazed when it came out of a hanger door chugging and sounding its horn as safety dictates. She was happy to stand and get affection from the driver.  

  Perhaps the most exciting and momentous experience was her introduction to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Each NASA center has a director, and on each Monday they all gather at their various locations to have a virtual meeting with Mr. Bolden. Every center has a room especially for these kinds of meetings, complete with cameras, microphones and a giant screen on which all of the center representatives appear. The Dryden center director, David McBride, asked me to bring Ella to this meeting. Ella had been here just four weeks. We went up to the room and waited in the back for the meeting to start. As the meeting progressed, it was getting close to the time when each center director would give a short report. Mr. McBride asked me to bring Ella up next to him so that she would be on camera. She is still learning to jump up into chairs on command, so I hoisted her up so as not to make too big of a commotion. Luckily, she cooperated and sat quietly. As people began to notice the unusual (if not unprecedented) sight of a dog at the meeting, I started to hear comments and giggles. One person said, “Hey, it’s the Dryden dog.” Another remarked, “I bet she saved someone’s life.”

  It was now Dryden’s turn, and Mr. McBride began to introduce Ella. It had been almost 10 minutes and I was worried that she would start to get restless and jump out of the chair.  This was her big moment, and she needed to make a good impression. Mr. McBride explained that she was a therapy dog in training and part of the Employee Assistance Program. As if she were a seasoned actress making her most important audition, she took the cue and made what I think was a lasting impression: looking right at the camera, she gave her biggest, most dramatic puppy yawn ever. Laughter ensued from across the country and throughout the NASA leadership. I believe she got the part.

Workin’ for a Livin’

There’s a new face in Dryden’s Employee Assistance Program office – a furry one. EAP manager Kathleen Christian has begun introducing a standard poodle named Ella into her work counseling employees and their families, and decided to share the experience in a blog. Through Ella’s perspective and her own, in coming weeks Dr. Christian will share the story of Ella the Therapy Dog’s arrival, training and impact at the center.

The use of animals in therapy is a growing practice. Wide-ranging clinical studies of its effectiveness have verified significant and positive results. Trained therapy animals like Ella are turning up in hospitals, nursing homes, counseling centers and elsewhere – anyplace they can offer human colleagues the comfort of a friendly nuzzle and some warm companionship. Follow Ella’s story here and help welcome her to Dryden!

 

10/18/10 – No breakfast this morning. I hope there isn’t going to be another bath. She brushed me last night and said tomorrow we go to work. What is this place? She says this is Dryden Flight Research Center and She is going to explain more, later. It looks huge and there aren’t many trees and there is no grass anywhere. It smells like dried plants and something else – She says it is jet fuel. This is work? Where will I run with Jack? We go inside a big building with strange glass doors. We walk down a long hallway into a room that smells like Her. She puts a big blanket down on the floor with some of my toys. She brought a bowl with water and gives me breakfast. At least I’m not hungry any more. We go outside and walk past very, very big buildings. She says this one is the hangar. Some day, She says, I will run and play in there. She says I will make the people happy. We walk across more concrete than I have ever seen, and go behind a building. She says this is where I can go for a private “bio break.” Lots of smells – I can’t see any animals except birds, but I can smell cat, rabbit, squirrel, and even something that smells like a wild dog. Where are the animals that belong to these smells?

 

I follow her up more stairs than I have ever seen. This is very hard. They are steep. She tells me I am a good girl. We go to a large room with more people than I have ever seen, and they are sitting very close together. This is confusing. The people make me worried.  I sit next to Her. Some people come up and hold up the back of their hand in front of my face. There is no food there. I don’t know what I am supposed to do with their hands. Some people try to grab me after they show me their hand. They talk loud and move their face very close to me and stare at my eyes. I feel afraid and I don’t know what to do, but I try not to move. She talks to them. She talks to me in a calm voice then the people go away. I lay down on the floor and go to sleep. It’s better that way.

 

10/20/10 – She talks to people when they come into our office. I want to lay down behind Her desk, on my bed that she put there for me. Instead, She puts the leash on me and brings me around to sit between Her and the people. I lie down and go to sleep. Some of them talk to me, some of them don’t.

 

A man comes to the office and sits on the couch. He talks softly to me and I sit closer to him. Then he sits on the floor and I lay down next to him. This is good. She gives him a dog cookie, and he gives it to me.

 

A lady comes in and sits down. She doesn’t talk to me. Something about her is different and I get up and sit next to her leg. I like leaning on her, and she lets me.

 

10/22/10 – She takes me outside in front of the hangar. Some very big men walk toward us, and say, “Hey, is she the mascot?” They are happy, and want to talk about me and ask Her questions.

 

On the other side of the hangar, we see another man. She says he is an engineer. He comes over and tells Her that he doesn’t own dogs and doesn’t like them much. He talks to Her and ignores me. After a few minutes, he gets low to make his face level with mine. He doesn’t grab me or get too close, so I sit next to Her, waiting. Then he touches me and it feels okay. I lie down, even though the concrete is very cold. He lies down next to me! Then when he stands up and walks away, I feel like something is different. She seems calm, and I feel proud.

 

When we go back to the office, a man and a woman come and sit down. The man is crying. The woman is very, very uncomfortable. I want to be next to the woman, so I get up and sniff her. I sit with her and she puts her hand softly on my head. I lie down there and sleep. When I wake up, they are leaving.

 

Kathy’s note: Ella’s first week at work has been exciting and surprising. Although I expected people to react to her in a positive way, I never guessed they would react so strongly. On Tuesday and Thursday when Ella stayed home, each person I would see in the hallway would ask where she was. Everyone knows her name, even people I have never spoken to. My co-worker, Monique, is peppered by questions about her from people all across the center.

 

I am surprised by how overwhelmed Ella has been and how awkward many employees have acted around her. Employees find it difficult to slow down in their approach and I have had to be very assertive in order to help them – and her – learn to interact. In my office, Ella reacts to some people and sleeps through the hour with most. It remains to be seen whether she will be able to adapt effectively to this environment. I know that, for both of us, challenges lie ahead.

Back to Cibola High: Making the Most of My Opportunities

By Jay Levine

Editor, NASA Dryden X-Press

For the first time in more than two decades I walked through the doors of Cibola High School in Albuquerque, N.M. from which I graduated many years ago. I had returned as part of NASA’s community outreach during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

When I was a high school student at Cibola and working for the community newspaper, the Rio Rancho Observer, and at every job since, I have always made my own opportunities by asking a lot of questions and taking risks that stretch my abilities.

I wasn’t just there to tell the nearly 100 students taking journalism and communication classes about my amazing job and all of the things I have accomplished. I didn’t mention all of the awards or accolades I have received. I also wasn’t there to awe them with the fact that someone from their school has seen some of the world’s most interesting aircraft at NASA Dryden, and that I have sat in the pilot’s seat on a space shuttle.

I was there instead to give them an opportunity, thanks to my old and new friends at the Rio Rancho Observer. The day before the presentation, I had introduced myself to the current Observer staff. Editor Tommy Trujillo graciously agreed to talk to any students who wanted to write or take photos, just for the experience of being published. Just as important, he offered those interested students the opportunity to shadow a reporter, or even himself.

Ironically, I also had the opportunity to see Gary Herron, the Observer editor when I was earning a few bucks by writing a weekly article for the paper while I was in high school. When I was a student, he gave me an old camera that barely focused, but it did broaden my experience. His teachings about the workings of the darkroom led to a part-time position with the paper after high school graduation. In fact, I wrote about and photographed my high school graduation for the Observer.

I know that only a handful might take advantage of the opportunity. That’s not the point. The idea is that it is an example of something they could be thinking about on how to begin their career path. I told them to ask lots of questions, to make their own opportunities, and to be on the lookout for ways to expand their options.

Who knows? Maybe one day one of them will work for NASA.