Paul Dum...

First Tour

I worked in the ABF, which is the Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility. It was an awesome experience. I had the privilege of working with another Penn State co-op Jon-Michael Tucker. Our first project was to design a parabola counter for use on the KC-135. The KC-135 is the plane the flies up and down in a series of parabolas so that everything inside becomes weightless for about 20 or 25 seconds at a time.

We were also able to help our lab do testing on Astronaut Candidates. They would come into our lab and we would take measurements. We would then put them into a full body scanner, which is a machine that creates a 3D computer image of the person. Finally, we would do strength testing on the astronaut candidate.

The most exciting thing I got to work on was using a motion capture system called Vicon to analyze the motions of an astronaut while he was testing Tile Repair tasks. The way it works is that we put a bunch of little reflective balls all over a person, then look at them with a bunch of cameras, which lets us figure out where the balls are in space, and then we can determine how the person moved. We first did this for testing taking place on the PABF (the Precision Air Bearing Floor, basically a giant air hockey table), and then on the KC-135. This meant that I actually got to fly on the KC-135 a total of 7 times, which is one of the best experiences of my life.

Second Tour

I got to work in the Exploration Analysis Branch. This is the group that studies different ways of conducting missions in the future to figure out the best way of doing them. While I was here I got to help out a lot with studies of the best way for us to go back to the moon. How awesome is it that I'm now seeing these plans in the newspaper, a year after I helped the people developing them. While I was here, I worked on a project to figure out how much adding extra mass to a capsule would increase its' heating during reentry. I learned so many new things, especially since I'm not an aerospace engineer, but I now know way more about aerospace engineering than I ever thought that I would before.

Third Tour

This tour I got to work in EVA Systems. This group not only gets to do all the astronaut training for EVAs (that's spacewalks), but they also do flight control (that means sit in mission control). I got to work on a number of interesting projects, and got to help with a few simulations, including one where I got to "play" the astronaut and radio the people practicing mission control. I also got to certify to teach two classes, one on the spacesuit and one on SAFER, a thruster pack the astronauts put on before spacewalking so they can fly themselves back to the station in case they get separated. Part of this class was coaching a student wearing a virtual reality helmet learning to fly the SAFER.

Fourth Tour

This time I worked on the Advanced Air Team in the Life Support and Habitability Branch. I got to help design and build systems to test different ways of removing carbon dioxide from the air. One of my projects was to work on a system that would freeze carbon dioxide right out of the air, and then feed it into other systems that would recycle it. I learned a ton about pressure systems and also how life support technologies work. I also got to do a lot of project management tasks, taking responsibility to take these projects from the conceptual stage to something that could be tested out.

Social Life

There's so much to do in Houston and so many fun people to do it with. The NASA coops are the most awesome group of people ever, and we're always doing something fun. I've played softball and volleyball, gone skydiving, gotten scuba certified, gone to symphony concerts, played broomball, and done dozens of other things.