Hello from Johnson Space Center,

Still here, still learning, and thus begins week three.

Early Monday morning we met up with the pre-collegiate interns to board the shuttle bus that would take us around town to see the major sites of Johnson Space Center.  Our VIP tour began with a stop at Ellington Field, the airfield of JCS.  We began by viewing several reduced gravity projects developed by teams from various colleges around the nation, as they prepared to conduct experiments in the Weightless Wonder.  The Weightless Wonder is an airplane that flies in parabolas and simulates no gravity for periods of about 20 seconds.  The Reduced Gravity projects illustrated the possibilities that are abundant for us to utilize in our future.  Some of the teams spoke with us explaining their projects; from Embry-Riddle Daytona Beach's fuel slosh experiments to Purdue's tests on the energy released from boiling water in micro-gravity.  We were lucky enough to not only see the Weightless Wonder in person, but also able to go aboard and tour the magnificent plane.  Prior to leaving, we also saw the WB-57F, one of two "long winged" planes in the world.

The next stop on our journey was to the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, where astronauts spend hours training for their missions in space.  This pool, which is 4 stories high, is the closest simulation on Earth we can get to working in space.  The astronauts are neutrally buoyant and thus don't float or sink to the bottom.  We were fortunate enough to be taken on a tour of the entire building by two NBL divers.  While touring we were able to watch not just one, but TWO astronauts training for the STS-133 and the International Space Station.  To ensure the astronauts are well prepared for future tasks, they spend about ten hours training for every one hour they will spend working in space.  The divers also have to undergo rigorous training and testing in order to be able work in the NBL; if an astronaut depressurizes, he/she will start sinking, and the divers must come to the rescue.  Before leaving the NBL we toured the control room that monitored the astronauts' work and simulations.

      

As everyone can attest to, food is always very important.  Our next stop on our tour was the awesome Food Lab where a kind food scientist explained what problems scientist face in preparing food for space.  We learned about the meticulous planning, preparing, and packing required to feed our astronauts.  Several difficulties exist in preparing the food so it would last for a long time without spoiling, and being prepared and consumed in space.  Sodium is another challenge in packaging food, as scientists now believe that the abundance of sodium in an astronaut's diet can augment numerous health problems such as vision and muscle loss.  The food scientist concluded by discussing the ongoing research and development to improve current products as well as developing new entrees.  We can now tell Forrest Gump one more way of preparing shrimp: freeze-drying.  One interesting fact is that the most requested food in space is shrimp cocktail.  The most requested item upon return from space is fresh fruit.  Upon leaving the food lab we were able to view numerous food items and entrees.

Next we went to building 30, which houses the Mission Control Center.  First, our group toured the Shuttle Mission Control.  There weren't many people working because there is not a current shuttle mission.  However, they were preparing for a simulation so it started to hop close to the time we left.  Next we went to the mission control for the International Space Station.  We actually got to view a live feed of two astronauts working on the space station.  One awesome thing we saw was an astronaut drinking from a container we had just learned about at the Food Lab.  There was also a live video of Earth spinning under the space station.  Our last stop was Historic Mission Control, which was the actual control room that directed the first shuttle launching and all Apollo missions following our first trip to the moon.

The next stop on our tour was Building 9, the JSC mockup facility.  The first thing we viewed inside was Robonaut and Spidernaut.  Robonaut was created to perform humanoid tasks without risking human life.  Once perfected Robonaut will be able to complete repairs on the ISS as well as space walks and other functions to benefit the crew.  The reason Robonaut is humanoid is because the scientists don't want to make new tools but enable the robot to use existing tools.  Spidernaut is a robot designed to walk while carrying large loads.  Another project being manufactured by the robotic engineers is the CEV, Crew Exploration Vehicle.  The CEV is modular enabling it to be easily transported.  The CEV will serve as a RV for the astronauts in space.  Also housed in Building 9 are all the various mockups including the shuttle, ISS, and SOYUZ, the Russian crew module.  An engineer who works on the ISS took us on a tour and gave a lecture on all the individual components and tasks involved in creating and maintaining the ISS.

The final stop on our tour was the Saturn V and Rocket Park.  The Saturn V was built to be launched into space but was never used.  It was impressive to be able to view a real rocket up close, as no pictures can truly convey how extremely large it is in real life.  We were able to walk around and see all of the various stages up close.  Overall, our tour was extremely impressive and educational.  It was very enlightening to see an overview of all the integral parts of JSC and how they worked together to make a mission possible.

Following our tour we had a very busy week at work.  Here is an update on our internships and current projects.

Brian and Kevin continue to work on their Mass Estimation Program.  They are finishing up finding functions of the masses of the individual parts of a Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle, and have started writing the model and program to bring everything together.  Using the type of orbit and final velocity required, the mass of the whole rocket and fuel needed can be found and calculated, which is what they are working on and building a computer model of.

Hollie and Christopher made much progress this week as they made and perfected their Project Approval Presentation for building the scale mock-up of the Apollo 17 Landing Site.  Although their idea going into the meeting was well thought out, their superiors had other ideas.  It was no-worries because this sort of changing is normal for all engineering presentations as change is key to innovation.  Thanks to their enlightening mentors, they have found a way to cut costs and weight, but yet include a higher detail.  The next step for them is first to rethink some aspects of the planning and design and then create a small-scale model of the large-scale mock-up.

Shelby and Kelsey were excited to finally meet their mentor, John Clack, on Tuesday.  They were ecstatic to finally be assigned a project.  They will be working on a project proposal that will implement new collaboration software throughout the Mission Operations Directorate.  They will be evaluating the previous use of Windows Sharepoint Services and the possible implementation of Microsoft Sharepoint Server.  They have been working diligently on research and have enjoyed attending new meetings all week long.  They are both looking forward to starting the new phase of their project this coming week.

As every human knows, all work and no play makes for a dull day.  Here is our weekly activity review.  Through the intersection and through the gate, to the park we went.  While there, some flew a kite although flying might be better replaced with kite crashing due to lack of wind.  Others aggressively played tennis and even managed to hit the ball boy, Christopher.  Before departing for the evening, most played soccer and accidently hit Shelby square in the face. 

 

On Wednesdays, we have the awesome weekly Wii Night!  Our favorite is the Karaoke Wii game because we all know how to really rock out.  According to our classy chaperone, Joline, you should "look for us on American Idol next season".  Like we said, we ROCK!  

On Friday night, we decided to participate in a basic pastime: bowling.  We took advantage of the price deal and bowled for two eventful hours.  During those hours, Kelsey managed to have her bowling ball rejected and roll back to her, halting halfway back and coming to a complete stop in the gutter.  Also, Shelby greatly improved and managed to triple her score from the first game to the third.  

Saturday we were able to travel to Galveston Island and attend the Flight Museum and Schlitterbahn Waterpark.  The Flight Museum was very interesting due to all the painstaking hours put in to restoring several models of antique warplanes.  After that, we walked to the water park, Schlitterbahn, to splish and splash until eight o'clock.  This was fabulous as we got our fill of slides, tubes, and sun.  Needless to say, we all are sporting a sweet tan line.  Also, Kevin got hit with a walkie-talkie falling from the sky, which was weird because he was standing 4 stories up underneath a canopy.  At the end of Saturday night, we found ourselves in heaven: Landry's Seafood.  The food was beyond words!  Following the delicious seafood entrees we all ordered and shared desserts, which included: Banana Foster, Crème Brule, Cheesecake and our favorite, Chocolate Sin.  

Today is Sunday and we find ourselves writing our riveting weekly blog.  Prior to blogging, the boys showed off their killer cooking skills for lunch.  The boys went shopping early this morning and picked up all the fixings for a cookout and prepared an awesome spread for lunch.  Kevin manned the grill and served some of the biggest burgers we have ever seen. 

Tonight, we are looking forward to going to the Fun House after the completion of all our errands and laundry.  While there we will be able to enjoy laser tag, rock climbing, bumper boats, putt-putt, and arcade.  Luckily, there aren't any evil clowns at the Fun House.  

   

We guess this is all for now.  Whoop whoop! And, frankly, "Houston, we do NOT have a problem."

Hello from Johnson Space Center,

Before we divulge into our past week here in Houston, we would like to introduce ourselves.  There are six of us that have been granted the honor of interning at Johnson Space Center through the Summer Stem Experience.  

Hi my name is Shelby Bottoms. I am 17 and I attend Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas. I am involved in dance team, National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, and Kay Club at my high school, and am involved in the Kansas City Astronomy Club and the Miller Marley School of Dance and Voice competition team outside of school. I hope to attend the United States Air Force Academy for college and major in aerospace engineering. This summer, my internship at JSC is in the IT department that supports the Mission Control Center. Kelsey and I work together under our mentor, John Clack.

Hello my name is Brian Shin, and I go to Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. This summer at Johnson Space Center, I am interning for my mentor Mr. Charles Mallini, in the Flight and Integrated Test Office with the Constellation program. I am working with Kevin Koch and another college co-op intern to design a heavy lift launch vehicle and provide mass estimations for the rocket. At school, I am involved in activities such as Math Club, tennis, Technology Student Association, and National Honor Society. I love math and physics, and hope to major in aerospace engineering in college. In my free time, I love to play tennis, violin, and GO, a board game.

Hello my name is Kelsey Khoo. I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma and go to Jenks High School. At my school I'm a part of National Honor Society and International Club. I have also served as an officer of Chinese Club for two years. In my spare time I like to play the piano and tennis. I love my pre-engineering class and I want to major in either biomedical engineering or aerospace engineering when I get to college. At Johnson Space Center, I work with Shelby Bottoms in the IT Services department of the Mission Operations Directorate under my mentor, John Clack. 

Hi, my name is Christopher Vanik and I live in Cortez, Colorado. I attend Montezuma-Cortez High School and am involved in Civil Air Patrol, Choir, and the Online Learning Community. I hope to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, AZ with a major in computer engineering. This summer, while I attend the NASA INSPIRE SSE, I am working on developing a mockup of the Apollo 17 landing site for the Project M team to visualize the future landing site.  The lead mentor for this project is Dr. Timothy P. Crain in the Autonomous Flight Systems Branch, EG611.

Hello, my name is Hollie O'Brien. I live in the middle of the great state of Nebraska in the town of Ord. I go to school at Arcadia High School where I will be a senior next year. I am very active in FCA, National Honor Society, Youth Congress, Science Olympiad, Quiz Bowl, Speech, Drama, Volleyball, Basketball and Track.  While at Johnson Space Center this summer, my mentor is Dr. Tim Crain and my supervisor is Mr. Richard Mrozinski. They are being immensely helpful while I work on my project of an Apollo 17 Lunar Landing mock-up with Christopher Vanik. My future plans include attending Cal Tech and dual majoring in astronomy and physics.

My name is Kevin Koch, and I turned 17 last week. I too live in Nebraska, but a few hours away from Hollie, in the city of Lincoln. I go to school an hour away from my home, I attend a boarding school named Mount Michael Benedictine. Here I live at school during the week and live at home on the weekends. I am involved in the Cosmic Ray Observatory Project (CROP) at my school as well as Student Council, NHS, Chemistry and Physics Field Days among other things. I work with Brian Shin in the Constellation Program at the Flight and Integrated Test Office. We are in charge of a Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle Mass Estimation Program based on propellant and diameter.  I love science, especially chemistry and physics and hope to major in aerospace engineering or mechanical engineering with an emphasis in composites from either Rice University here in Houston, or Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Now that you are familiar with our group here is a summary of our week's experiences.  Our last blog concluded after our initial orientation and us anxiously awaiting the beginning of our SSE experience.

Monday

As exciting as it was to be FINALLY on base, we still had to sit thought another day of orientation.  After the orientation was over, we received our badges, and we definitely felt more official and like we belonged on base. Also, we finally were able to put a face with the amazing liaison, Alissa Keil, the woman who is in charge of the INSPIRE program at JSC.  She did an awesome job preparing us for our summer adventure. Once we received our badges at the Gilruth center, we were able to go inside Johnson Space Center. Once on base the first thing we did as a group was eat lunch at one of the cafeterias along with the pre-collegiate interns. After lunch, at one o'clock sharp, we were allowed to go to our individual buildings, and meet our mentors. This was one of the most nerve-racking experiences thus far, because we all wanted to make a great first impression with not only our mentor, but our entire organization. After work, this day ended fairly uneventfully. Since everyone was worn out from long travels the previous day and an overload of information at orientation, we ended our day with a relaxing movie night on the hotel theater.

Tuesday

Today was our last day of orientation. Today's agenda included ethics in the workplace, I.T. of JSC, and internet rules and regulation.  After lunch, we reported again to our mentors to gain more insight on our individual projects.  After dinner we had a short meeting to plan our vodcast and future projects. Our weekly schedule will be comprised of Tuesday/Thursday project work nights and student planned activity nights on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Wednesday

OUR FIRST FULL WORK DAY!!! We are all becoming comfortable with the layout of the Johnson Space Center, and the impeding baby ducks that sit in the middle of the sidewalk and do not move for anyone.  After more discussion with our mentors we are all becoming more familiar with our projects and offices. The majority of us have obtained computer access by this point and have an email work account. After dinner, we celebrated Kevin Koch's birthday, he turned 17 today.  Our evening activity was "Wednesday Wii" and everyone enjoyed some friendly competition in a variety of games. 

Thursday

Just another day at the office; at least until four o'clock when we had our first weekly meeting with the entire INSPIRE group (pre-college and residential). We discussed our triumphs as well as hardships that would have to be overcome. I.T. seemed to be the only hardship that was not entirely solved. After work and dinner, everyone was hard at work on their abstracts. 

Friday

Today was not just another day at the office, as several of us were treated to a few special adventures at JSC. Shelby and Kelsey were taken on a tour of the mission control building, and saw all three mission control rooms: the historic, the ISS, and the Shuttle. While on tour, they were able to see active shuttle simulations preparing for the next launch and a live picture of Earth. Brian and Kevin's mentor treated them to a tour of the Saturn V Rocket. They're project is to build a mass estimation model for a heavy lift launch vehicle (HLLV), and they got new ideas and a new understanding of the monumental task in front of them as they looked at the rocket.

Our group all met for lunch to discuss their day thus far, as well as have lunch with an astronaut in training. Mr. Gregory (Reid) Wiseman spoke to our INSPIRE group about his line of work, our goals, and how to achieve them. We hope to have another opportunity to meet and discuss the training it takes to become an astronaut in further detail.   Our Friday activity was a visit to Kehmah Boardwalk.  We were treated to a great view of the ocean, roller coaster, performing "Fire Man", and snacks including funnel cakes and dipping dots.  To end the evening Kehmah had an amazing firework display.

Saturday

After picking up our dry cleaning we headed off to our next adventure, Houston Space Center. Feeling very official, we were able to get in for free with our badges.  We saw some great IMAX features, touched moon rocks, and viewed many great space artifacts.  There were also several interactive exhibits including a Star Wars themed ropes course, house of mirrors, and orbital bike, which Shelby rocked! After our fantastic time at the Space Center we finished our day with a delicious meal at the Olive Garden.

Sunday

Today was our one chance to finally sleep in, do laundry, and relax.  After grabbing a bite at Panera Bread for lunch we made a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up any essentials we would need for the week.  Next we were off to the mall for a shopping trip (and continue our dance parties in the van between stops).  After returning to the hotel, we discovered each others' secret singing abilities while playing Wii Karaoke. Finally, after we conclude this blog we are headed to Genghis Grill for dinner and a detour to Marble Slab for ice cream before heading home for a good nights rest as we prepare for another great week at Johnson Space Center.  Tomorrow we are being treated to a VIP tour.  So be sure to tune back in next week for details of our tour and exciting week.  In conclusion, we are still able to safely say, "Houston, we DO NOT have a problem.

First news from JSC

Hello from Johnson Space Center,

We get the honor of having one of the first blogs. Even though we only arrived earlier this evening and afternoon, friendship has already begun its root-growing process. Some started the process of traveling Friday as they drove(a whole long nine hours) to the hotel. Others had an early morning flight sporting the wide-awake time of 4 am. This brought them to a layover and a divine message of needing a frappacino from Starbucks. This is because as one of them walked through one terminal, she saw 8 of the coffee shops. Short turbulent flights later lead them to a heat wave of humidity. The bonding between the six high school students started immediately as the numbers grew with arriving flight.  After a brief walk through the heavy air and an interesting tollbooth, we were off and riding toward the hotel. Everyone can attest to the fact that the navigator is always right and never loses service or makes up roads and turns. The hour drive from the airport to the Staybridge Suites Hotel only helped this bonding.

When we got to the hotel, everybody was in for a big surprise! We were treated to very nice suites with awesome views. After we unpacked and got settled in, we rushed down to the Orion room for some pizza! (The boys took more than a couple of leftovers back to their room for midnight snacks).  We had orientation where we were introduced to the people that are very vital to our success in the INSPIRE program. We have 6 residential interns and 16 pre-college interns participating at the Johnson Space Center this summer. We were split into the residential intern group where we went over all the rules, regulations, and schedule. Highlights include working at the best NASA Facility in existence, watching a Major League Baseball game, visiting museums, and many other fun educational activities. We are now prepared and know the manual from front to back. We spent several hours socializing and having a blast. This includes going swimming, playing putt-putt, getting attacked with beach balls from 6 year-olds and figuring out that we needed a few items from Wal-Mart. Some picked up several items to stock our kitchenettes while others searched for the hiding detergent. Everyone finally found their needed items and we embarked on the journey back to the hotel. Luckily, we are very subtle and planted the idea of SONIC into our driver's heads. We purchased some cherry limeades, watermelon slushes and ice cream while baking in the heat of the night.   

We agreed to be ahead of the game and write our wonderful blog on every Sunday night to ensure its timely posting each Monday. This blog finds us intellectually talking about current events, badges of identification, and politics, all of this, leading to more bonding. None of this is a problem because we are becoming pretty good friends. The only thing left is to get ready for tomorrow and get a good night's rest to ensure our full attention so we can squeeze the most out of this great opportunity. We wish everyone all the best where they are right now and in whatever endeavor they are doing. So, at this point in time, we can safely say, "Houston, we DO NOT have a problem."

Finally, after 2 very long flights, I am in Houston, settled in my suite with my orientation!+ More paperwork! OI!