Daniel Araya...

At Ellington Field

I'm a native Texan. I grew up in Cedar Hill, TX, which is a small suburb of Dallas about 4 hours north of Houston. I was born and raised to appreciate the marvels of air conditioning during Texas summers and to know that real Mexican food is best served closest to the border (Mexico that is). I'm also a first generation native Texan/native American. My dad is originally from Ethiopia and my mom was born in Hungary. They met in Hungary in college and moved to Texas some 21 years ago. I am currently working towards an Aerospace Engineering degree at Texas A&M University and this is my story...

How they let me in:

Having fun at Big Bend

I first heard about the coop opportunity through my first space job at the Space Engineering Institute at Texas A&M. This was a foot in the door for me, but I was still apprehensive about skipping out on school. Especially since I have graduate school in mind and who wants to still be in school when they're 30?! Once I got over my apprehensions I made contact with the coop office and politely bugged Anne Roemer enough to eventually grant me an interview while in Houston on other business. Honestly, I remember the interview as being a tease. I was feeling awestruck by just being at NASA but I felt like I was "in the moment". I was feeling confident. I was ready to start work the very next day; but then I stood up, shook Anne's hand, said my goodbye, and that was it for a very, very long time. At least that's what it felt like. I don't remember exactly how long it took to hear back, but I do remember that when I got the call, one of my roommates almost hung up on my NASA offer thinking it was a prank! I'm sure glad he didn't. To make a long story short I've left out details, which makes this all sound like some fairy tale of how I got to where I am. Truthfully, it was a lot of persistence and a little luck that got me here.

"I work for NASA."

You never get tired of hearing that!

Skydiving

Business with pleasure:

Working for NASA is fun. It's a different learning-curve every tour, which keeps things interesting, but my favorite thing about working for NASA is the people. The people I have worked with are funny, smart, a little nerdy, intuitive, but most of all genuine. It takes all kinds, and NASA has them, and we all share the dream of working in space! I started work here with an internship through NASA's STEP (Summer Temporary Employment Program) in the summer of 2005. Back then I worked in EP6, the Pyrotechnics Test Branch, where they paid me to blow up the shuttle! (Or at least small pieces of it that are supposed to blow up). Right after that summer I started my first coop tour working in EP4, which was the propulsion and fluid systems branch of the energy systems division. There I worked on a hydrogen reduction ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization) project for future lunar missions. We tested a system to extract water vapor from the lunar regolith (moon dirt) in the presence of heat and hydrogen gas. In the summer of 2006 I worked for EG4, which is part of the aeroscience and flight mechanics division. During that work tour I developed the first simulation work of the guidance for the Orion Vehicle in the event of an abort to land in the Atlantic Ocean. I am currently finishing my work tour at Ellington Field, where I get to see and work with airplanes everyday!

Me on the C-9 (The Vomit Comet)

NASA is a great place to be, but it wouldn't be nearly as awesome of an experience without the camaraderie and shenanigans of my fellow co-ops to enjoy. You name a sport, and someone here is into it, or at least willing to make a fool of themselves in learning how to play. I, personally, am in favor of a little tennis and co-op volleyball (TR4L!). I also like to run and go mountain-biking. My first tour I started taking flying lessons and hope to get my pilot's license sometime in the next year. Co-ops are also impulsive. There is almost always something going on everyday of the week, but most especially on the weekends. Camping in Big bend, tubing on the Guadalupe River, driving cross-country to see the space shuttle launch, you name it! If you can think of something fun and are willing to put forth the effort in planning it, there will be a crowd of co-ops ready to join in.

If you're having doubts, put them away, you won't need them anymore.

NASA Wants YOU!

Please don't hesitate to e-mail me with questions about co-oping or living in Houston, or anything about me that this bio falls short of answering (which is a lot).