INSPIRE is an amazing program. The opportunities are endless. The skies keep widening, keep expanding, keep opening up new possiblities...
It was about two months ago, and our Space Habitat Innovation Team Members – Emily Beckman, Aswini Krishnan, Amelia Rolf, Netdao Yutakom, and Katie Britt – were up to our ears in school work. Yes, that last minute studying for those APs, immersed in our chemistry, calculus, and physics textbooks...
And then we received the news. We had won 1st place in the Space Habitat Innovation Challenge and were invited to visit the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama for a tour!
Our team had begun working on the Space Habitat Innovation Challenge in December. Our project was basically to design a future generation deep space habitat that could be used to house astronauts for extended periods of time, with a focus on interior design.
Because our other teammates had prior commitments, sadly only we two (Aswini and Amelia) were able to attend the MSFC tour. We would like to share our wonderful experience with you and hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.
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Our Space Habitat Trip to Huntsville: June 10 - 12, 2013
On June 10, we landed in Huntsville Airport and were ecstatic to see the smiling faces of Ms. Ingrum and Dr. Marks waiting for us right outside security. We got into the big silver limousine van (which Dr. Marks drove all the way to Alabama - thanks so much, Dr. Marks!) and after dropping off our bags at the hotel, went to eat a delicious dinner at Red Robin and later took a stroll in an open mall, admiring the beauty of the city.June 11- the big day. After a light breakfast, we met Dr. Jamey Jacobs (the OSU professor who coordinated the Space Habitat Challenge) and we got into the van to go to MSFC!
First, we visted the MSFC rocket park, which had an assortment of models of past missions – like Saturn V.
Next we went to a building where interns were working on engineering projects and allowed us to take a look. One group of interns was working on controlling a device that slightly hovers above the ground to simulate the no-friction space environment. We then went to see the other group, which was working on improving the controlling mechanism for a robotic arm! The interns even let us try to control the robotic arm, and it was absolutely thrilling!
Picture: The interns and us. The girl on the left is Murphy, who was an INSPIRE student herself before she graduated from high school! She said that INSPIRE was the program that gave her the contacts and motivated her get into this prestigious college internship – Go INSPIRE!
Next, we got see a replica of the ISS and see the internal structure. An intern guided us through and explained the functions of its various parts. We then got to go and see the control room, from where they directly give commands to the ISS.
Then - what we had been waiting for - we toured the deep space facility! We had a great time seeing how the existing models of deep space habitat compared to our design and talking to our tour guide, Mr. Dischinger, about it. We then took a look at an experiment going on where a man wearing a suit with infrared light detectors emitting signals to cameras was able to make a computerized person move the same way he did.
After a filling lunch at the NASA cafeteria, we went to view rocket test sites. We saw the historic test site for the Mercury capsule and greatly enjoyed Mr. Dischinger's stories about the history behind the creation of the first space capsules.
After leaving the Marshall Space Flight Facilities, we went to the Space and Rocket Center, a museum designed for tourists. Before going into the main building though, we visited Mr. Scott Anderson and his NASA Digital Network facilities, and we explained our Space Habitat Innovation Challenge design to him, showing him our powerpoint. Before we left, he announced that he had a surprise for us and gave us both pictures of astronaut Bill McArthur, autographed by him! After profusely thanking him, we headed for the US Space and Rocket Center's main building. The museum was fantastic. We spent a lot of time in a black hole simulation game where we had to rescue ourselves from falling into a black hole by answering some questions about black holes through interactive activities. In another part of the museum, we found a robot that prepared frozen yogurt with toppings. And yes, each of us paid six dollars, not for the frozen yogurt, but to watch the robot make it. Entering a different section, we saw many replicas of space capsules and even saw some moon rocks, enclosed in a glass case, of course. And lastly, of course, we went to the gift shop and treated ourselves to t-shirts (which ever-so-cutely said "It's not rocket science ... oh wait yes it is!).
Back at the hotel and on the morning of June 12, all we could say was one thing: we didn't want to go home.
We would sincerely like to thank all the NASA INSPIRE, OSU, and MSFC staff for coordinating this amazing experience and making it possible for us to participate in the Space Habitat Challenge and visit the center. We learned so much over the course of the visit - not just about STEM but also about all the opportunities that are out there in NASA for us to look at now and in the future, and we surely will remember this experience for the rest of our lives. Our thanks for everything, once again.
Aswini & Amelia
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