I Wouldn't Have Believed

By Marie McBride, MUST Junior, Florida Institute of Technology

Hello! My name is Marie McBride. Originally, I am from Hermitage, Pennsylvania. I am currently a junior at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. My major is Solar, Earth, and Planetary Science with a minor in physics. Eventually, I hope to get a PhD in Planetary Geology. In my lifetime my goal is to be the first woman to walk on the Moon. I have been working my hardest to make this dream a reality.

In the summer of 2011, I took a huge step towards my dream of becoming a moonwalker. I was selected to the NASA Lunar and Planetary Science Academy (LPSA). LPSA was an internship program at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. I was chosen by Dr. David R. Williams to assist him with his current project, The Restoration of Apollo Lunar Data. My job is to study the data from the lunar surface machines placed on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts from 1969-1972. Due to Apollo budget cuts the data has never been truly analyzed till now. After the summer, I was asked to continue my research through the academic year and I now make regular trips to Goddard.

If someone had told me even a year ago, that I would currently be working for NASA, I wouldn’t have believed them. Though, now that I have started I realized the possibilities in life are endless. There are so many opportunities in the world to do what you love, you just have to work hard and take the time to search for them.

I truly love where I am in life and would be happy to do anything I can to help anyone else be able to feel that way. Please don’t hesitate to contact me, I would be thrilled to share my experiences or answer questions.