Live Chat Roundup: May 13, 2010

By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL

What a busy week at KSC last week! As most of you know, Friday saw the last launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis. After this flight, Atlantis will be 'safed', meaning it will have all hazardous materials removed and cleaned so that Atlantis may be placed on display. This question, among others, was asked of our Live Chat presenter, Garry Liveway. Mr. Liveway is a young engineer working for Boeing, one of KSC's principal contractors. His main responsibility is the thermal protection sysytem.

Mr. Livesay gave students who had logged in for the evening an update on the current flight of Atlantis. He also talked about his recent path to finding an engineering occupation at NASA. He stressed that, even though his position will go away with the final flight of the shuttle, there is still lots of work to do and he is excited about his future opportunities. You can read the archive of the evening by clicking the 'Chat Archive' link on the OLC home page.

BONUS QUESTIONS
A few questions were not able to be answered during the evening, but Mr. Livesay has provided the answers here.

Erin E. says:
As an astronaut hopeful, are you looking for short or long duration missions? Would you be interested in going to the Moon, Mars, or asteroids?

Garry Livesay says:
Becoming an astronaut is something I've thought about for a long time now, and likewise, something I've talked about with my family on numerous occasions. While long missions would take me away from my family longer, it is something we are prepared for. As for destination, that isn't as important to me as what I will be doing on the way, and when we arrive at our destination.

Mary K. says:
Do you think it is better to go to the same college through your doctorate degree? Also, which engineering field requires the strongest background in mathematics? Thanks :)

Garry Livesay says:
The advice I had been given when I was considering the same thing is that experiencing more than one institution is beneficial. Each institution has their own way of learning and approaching problems, and by earning different degrees from different institutions, you also learn the there is more than one school of thought, so to speak. As for the strongest engineering field in mathematics, having only experienced Aerospace Engineering, it's really the only field I can vouch for, and I started down that path with basic Algebra and Calculus at the end of high school.

Kathryn B. says:
Other than for display purposes, why can't the retired shuttles be taken apart?

Garry Livesay says:
I'm guessing taking apart the shuttles would require significant amounts of machinery, technicians, and engineers that are unlikely to be found at each final destination of the shuttles. Also, taking them apart would also require the removal of the Thermal Protection System that encases each vehicle. When you consider these two large-scale procedures taking place at KSC, and once again at the final destination, the costs of the overall operation increases significantly, as does the risk of damaging the vehicles.

Peter V. says:
I understood that you received a research grant through your professor to work on a NASA experiment regarding fluids in micogravity conditions. Was this through a USRP grant and how were you chosen for this great opportunity over other students in your class? Was it difficult to attain this grant or internship opportunity?

Garry Livesay says:
My professors/advisors worked to earn a number of research grants from multiple foundations for our research efforts over the year-and-a-half I was involved with the project. As for the USRP, I don't know if they were involved, as I was not involved in the procurement of funding. I do know, however, that NASA was funding our efforts, and worked with their counterparts on a few occasions, as well as submitted updates and reports to them directly. I believe it was more of a process of my professors submitting the original proposal to NASA, after NASA made the public request for universities to compete for the research opportunity.

As for being chosen for the opportunity to lead the research team: I asked for it. It wasn't very difficult at all. :)