Mario Malavé...

About Me:

Me in the crew lock in the Space Station Training Facility (SSTF)

My name is Mario Malavé and I was born in Tampa, Florida and grew up in College Station, Texas. I am also the oldest in a Puerto Rican family of six children, having 3 brothers and 2 sisters (crazy huh?). Even though I lived so close to Texas A&M University I decided to study Electrical Engineering at The Georgia Institute of Technology or Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia. One of the main reasons for my departure from College Station was to give myself the opportunity to experience the big city and life away from home.

At Georgia Tech I am part of the Georgia Tech Orchestra, where I play the string bass, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers, and I have been a teacher's assistant for a computer science class. Going to Georgia Tech turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life because it allowed me to grow as a person, meet new people, and, of course, get a job at NASA through the co-op program.

Work Life

Sitting in Mission Control behind the CAPCOM console

I am currently a first term co-op working in Space Flight Training (Mission Operations Directorate) for the International Space Station or, to be more specific, the ISS Communications and Tracking Systems Group. Wow, what a mouthful! My first day on the job was definitely overwhelming but after I met my mentor, Evelyn Baldwin (a Georgia Tech Alumni), and all the friendly people here in training, I knew that working here was going to be amazing.

Working at NASA as a co-op in the Space Flight Training Division, I took the General Communications and Tracking (C&T) Knowledge Requirement (KR) examination. In order to pass the examination I had to familiarize myself with all the five C&T subsystems aboard the station (S-Band, UHF, Ku-Band, Audio, and Video) by reading the C&T Training Manual and taking C&T classes. Examinations and Tests!!!??..yep I said it, in order to become a Trainer/Instructor one must first learn what he will teach, this is true for any job.

Once I passed my examination, my next task was to update old schematics for all five C&T subsystems to flight 1J (R10 PCS displays) or assembly complete for the International Space Station. In order to accomplish this task I used the knowledge attained from the General C&T KR as well as talked to the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from my group. Accomplishing this task was extremely rewarding due to the fact that these updated schematics will be used to teach a real crew or expedition that will fly aboard the International Space Station in the future.

Working on schematics	One of the schematics I've been working on

My next task was to certify in teaching a lesson (C&T Voice Operations). In this lesson I discuss 4 of the 5 subsystems (Audio, UHF, S-Band and Ku-Band) in C&T as well as explain the functionalities of the telephone (also known as the Audio Terminal Unit, ATU) that Astronauts have aboard the Space Station to the ground.

Teaching my Voice Operation Lesson to a student	In the equipment lock using the Airlock ATU in the Space Station Training Facility (SSTF)

Another task this tour was to sit on console in Mission Control with CAPCOM (the flight controller that speaks to the astronauts aboard the Space Station) and the Flight Director (the head of all the Flight Controllers). One of the most rewarding experiences here at NASA was being able to sit with a real Flight Controller during one of his many shifts of work. In Mission Control I felt as if I had just learned French and was able to speak it for the first time in France because I understood all the "NASA Talk" that was going on around me.

Social Life:

All work and no play is not healthy; we need a balance. NASA Co-ops have intramurals teams in which I participated. These included the softball and soccer teams. We also have lunches every Friday where we mingle and enjoy each other's company. I have also participated in a volunteer program at Hall Elementary School where I mentored and tutoring a young girl.

Being a mentor and tutoring is a good way to give back to the community

Another thing to add is that I was given the opportunity to participate in many Tours and Lectures as a NASA co-op. A couple of the tours included the Vacuum Chamber, Scout/Rover, the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, Robonaut, and Ellington Field, and for the lectures we got to hear Christopher Kraft, Gene Kranz, Michael Coats, Bob Cabana and a couple Astronauts (i.e. Joseph Acaba, Mark Kelly and Clay Anderson).

Taking a picture in front of Robonaut	Joseph Acaba, the first Puerto Rican Astronaut and me (also Puerto Rican)

Future Plans:

Co-oping is a great thing anywhere, especially here at NASA. At NASA, a co-op is allowed to work in different departments/divisions in order to find where he or she is most comfortable. My future plans are to Study Abroad in France and then to return and work in EV2 which is the Electronic Design Branch for NASA, the perfect place for an Electrical Engineer. I thank God everyday for blessing me and giving me the chance to work in such a great place..life is GREAT!!

At Ellington Field