Most people-- scientists who work at NASA-- they're like 'I always wanted to work at NASA'
and I...I have to tell you this-- I'm at NASA on a bet.
Standing by now for run out in jettison to twin solid rockets, altitude 67 miles,
350 miles northeast of the Kennedy Space Center.
And...liftoff!
I came to the U.S. when I was 17 and I loved to watch 'I Dream of Jeannie' and the guy
worked at NASA, right? When I used to dream about like, maybe, maybe I can work at NASA one day.
I don't think I have anyone on my team that was like, 'I'm gonna grow up to be
A and then I'm going to do B and C.' Everybody has been like, 'Well, I was interested in this,
but then I did this, and then I worked here for awhile, and now I kind of want to do this.'
Some people went to the military before working at NASA. Some people go to community
college first and then go to a four-year school. Some people become parents first.
In college there was a flyer that says 'come work at NASA' and I remember it like it was
yesterday... my buddy Dave Beasley... I said, 'Dave, you fill out the application.' He's like,
'No, you fill it out.' I was like, 'No you fill it out.' He said,
'I bet you won't fill it out.' 'No,' I said, 'I bet you won't fill it out.' So I filled it out.
I'm teaching high school mathematics and there's a call and they say, 'Oh,
come to the office. NASA's on the phone.' And I... I used a swear word, but I was like, 'Bull crap!'
I grew up in Sausalito, California. I have a PhD in engineering physics, but my route to that final
degree destination was sort of maybe slightly circuitous. I played music. I went to music
school. I bailed out of music school. I came back to the San Francisco Bay area. I was playing in a
few different bands, playing around the Bay area. Anyway, I... I had actually started to notice
that when I would return home from playing a show at night, the stars were in a different
place in the sky. And so I literally... I went to the local community college to take
an astronomy course to teach me why the stars were moving. And all of a sudden I was just on fire.
I currently work at NASA JPL. I am the Mission Lead of the Mars Curiosity Rover.
It is an SUV sized nuclear power laser beam eye rover. My job is to troubleshoot
anything that happens to the rover. So anything that goes wrong with the rover,
it's my problem, it's my team that needs to figure it out. In the morning the rover wakes up
and it says, 'Talk to me.' And so we go ahead and then uplink
the nine hours of, 'So here's what you're gonna do today.' Pretty much like, this is my celebrity,
here is your itinerary of the day. And we need to shoot a bunch of images, have those images down...
downlinked and analyzed and say, 'Well, I think I can drive through there without a problem with
the rover,' and command it. Because the rover is sitting on Mars, it takes approximately
14 minutes or so of the signal to make it to the rover and 14 minutes to come back. Which
means that by the time you have sent something, 28 minutes have happened, and 28 minutes later you
know you're in trouble and now you have to react to it very quickly. So I like-- I love the rush.
I got pulled into the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit opportunity
and I led the mechanical engineering of the landing system for that.
Even where I've gravitated to at work
is the high risk and most exposed you could be part of the job.
And I am always somehow courting that edge, to prove to myself that I'm not trapped in the fear.
(Cheers)
Wow!
Welcome to the Green Lab Research Facility. This is a hobby turned into a mad profession.
I have what some people would call a dream job now. And the reason why I say that is,
uh, 95 of things we do at NASA are failures, but we learn from them.
And so today I'm an engineer, a project management engineer,
doing construction specifically for the b2 test stand which is behind us here.
And we'll go to the Moon, to Mars, and asteroids and beyond with that vehicle.
We might be looking at an object of say, an exploded star, and you can slice and dice that
data into a simple two-dimensional image. That tells you part of the story, right?
But if you have more data then you can take it a step further and bring it into a three-dimensional
model. Once you have a 3D model in place of a... astronomical object...
what you do with it... those options are limitless.
So right now I'm a mechanical test operations engineer, and some of my co-workers,
they're testing the RS-25 engines which will one day send astronauts to Mars.
I love what I do. I really enjoy testing rocket engines, and
haven't had any doubt since I got here that this is where I was supposed to be.
And so when you're applying for something that you're really passionate about,
don't prejudge yourself. Don't let doubt rule you. Because I've gotten chosen. And so I
encourage people to to push and put in for things that they're curious about. Go ahead
and put the application in, and go ahead and look for that dream and follow that mission.