Space Highlight Reel
I started working for NASA when I was 20. I was hired into the co-op program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, two weeks after the Columbia accident. From scuba diving in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory where astronauts train for spacewalks to suiting up the crew in their orange Advanced Crew Escape Suits (ACES) before they left on a Shuttle flight, I’ve had the honor of serving America's space program from the frontlines.
Here are some of the highlights from my incredible experience working to advance humanity’s presence in space and understanding of our universe.
Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis
Up close and personal with Atlantis (OV-104), prior to her final flight on STS-135 (which was the final flight of the Space Shuttle program).
STS-133 Tweetup
Conducting a suit demo for NASA Twitterers prior to the launch of Discovery on STS-133
Cape Canaveral Pad A
Approaching Pad A during a Mode II/IV (assisted pad egress/escape) training simulation.
Micro-G in the “vomit comet”
Catching some air in the C9 reduced gravity research aircraft, used for simulating near weightless environments.
Teaching a Class to Astronauts
Me, with hair, plus two of the bravest men I’ve ever met: Mark Kelly (on my right, picture left) and Steve Lindsey after I taught them a “ISS Racks Installation and Removal Skills” course prior to their STS-121 flight.
Teaching a Class to Astronauts
I’m teaching astronauts something they didn’t know! Or else, they knew it already and just played along. Either way, it was an amazing experience.
Testing Space Suits
Me and Dean Eppler, spacesuit test subject extraordinaire.
Shuttle Egress Training
Core to every crew survival engineer’s training: understanding survival scenarios and equipment capability. Here, during Shuttle egress training in the NBL, they drop you from a crane to simulate bailout and drag you across the water. You have to disconnect your parachute risers to simulate a parachute caught in the wind.
Pad Egress Training
During Shuttle pad abort training, I played an incapacitated crewmember for closeout crew teams to practice pulling disabled crewmembers out of a Space Shuttle orbiter while on the launchpad. I'm very good at playing dead weight, if I do say so myself.
Multiple User Cooling Unit
MUCU! My first NASA acronym. This was my first NASA project, actually: a Multiple User Cooling Unit which supplied cold water to an entire Shuttle crew during ground training or other non-flight ops. Here is the finished MUCU installed in the Astrovan which is used to take astronauts out to the launch pad. I don’t recall the inaugural drive, but I believe all crews starting with STS-120 received their little jolt of cooling via the MUCU, likely while gazing out the windows across the flat marshlands of the Cape during the 20-minute ride to the pad.
Note: if you Google “NASA MUCU,” most of the links will be for “NASA mucus,” also an interesting topic, but not one for which I made any significant contribution.
Astronaut Transfer Van
This is the Astrovan, or Astronaut Transfer Van, technically. It’s a modified 1983 Airstream Excella motorhome that was used to take astronauts to the launch pad from the operations and checkout building. All crews from STS-9 to STS-135, the final flight of the program, used this as their last terrestrial vehicle ride prior to sitting atop nearly 8 million pounds of thrust and accelerating to 17,500 mph in about 8.5 minutes.
A total of 355 men and women flew on the Space Shuttle throughout the program’s history.
Diving in the NBL
One of the most extraordinary experiences I’ve ever had the privilege of doing: diving in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL). This image is of me and astronaut Rex Walheim making our way across the 6-million gallon pool.
Helping Astronauts Prepare for their Mission
"Yeah, I think we can fit a 60” flat screen in here!" This is astronaut Rex Walheim and me measuring the clearance of a payload in the Space Shuttle's cargo bay, several months in advance of his flight to the International Space Station on STS-122. Sometimes, while working at the NBL, astronauts would request a “buddy diver” to help them visualize something using the mockups and neutral buoyancy of the 6-million gallon NBL to get as close to the real thing as possible while staying on Earth.
Bioculture System
Take a cell biology lab, design it to be operated remotely, miniaturize everything in it - incubator, refrigeration, oxygenation, bioreactors - then test and certify it to survive the rigors of spaceflight, then launch experiments to better understand what happens to cells in microgravity. As Lead Project Engineer, I oversaw the engineering team delivering the Bioculture System, a first-of-its-kind bioscience platform for the International Space Station.
Bioculture System On ISS
NASA Astronaut Nick Hague, from inside the Japanese Kibo lab module on ISS, working with one of the Bioculture System cassettes inside the Life Sciences Glovebox. Part of science ops for the Cell Science-02 bone healing and tissue regeneration experiment.
Credit: NASA. (July 30, 2019)
Silver Snoopy
Surprise presentation of the Silver Snoopy award, the astronauts’ own award for outstanding performance, contributions to flight safety, and mission success. Astronaut Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) flew his T-38 from Houston to Mountain View, CA, to personally present this to me after I successfully certified replacement pre-breathe masks for the International Space Station in time for the final Shuttle launch. To top it off, my family surprised me for the presentation. I think this picture captured when they walked in. I was speechless. It was, without a doubt, the highest honor I’ve ever received.
First Image of a Black Hole
It takes a telescope the size of the Earth to get the angular resolution needed to produce an image of a black hole. Since we can’t (yet) build telescopes that big, we rely on linking existing telescopes together and using imaging algorithms and the rotation of the Earth to create an instrument with enough capability to “see” a black hole. As the Project Engineer for the next generation Event Horizon Telescope, I lead the engineering team to expand and upgrade the array. Our next goal: black hole cinema!
Teide Observatory, Canary Islands
As part of the next generation Event Horizon Telescope program, we’re building new radio telescopes on mountaintops all over the world. Here I am at our first site, at the Teide Observatory in the Canary Islands. Mt. Teide, in the background, is the third highest volcano in the world when measured from the ocean floor. It’s also the highest point in Spain.
The view, as you may imagine, is breathtaking.
Banner Image Credit: Lumina Obscura from Pixabay