Carolina Restrepo...

Hi! My name is Carolina Restrepo and I'm a senior in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, and this is my story. I was born in College Station, TX. I lived there for about 2 weeks and then I moved to Medellín, Colombia, which is the most beautiful city in the whole world except for the fact that NASA isn't there. When I was 9, I moved to La Paz, Bolivia and graduated from high school there knowing that I wanted to work for NASA somewhere down the road. What I didn't know was that co-ops existed, so as soon as I found out I did everything I could to get here as fast as I could. This is when I became a busy person. I am an officer in Society of Women Engineers. I am also a member of AIAA, the scuba club, and the Bolivia students association.

My first tour at JSC and I worked in the Propulsion and Fluids Systems Branch of the Energy Systems Division. I had 4 very cool projects. I designed a cover to protect the hydrogen tanks that will go on the SCOUT rover, which is the first lunar/Mars vehicle operated by astronauts since the Apollo missions. I also worked on a mobile Test Stand. My job was to model the flow through the components to make sure nothing would blow up during testing and to take the design from a schematic to an actual 3D cart with all the hardware on it, which I also got to build and machined some of the parts. My other 2 projects were to configure the circuitry of a microwave thruster that could potentially be used to counteract the drag on the Space Station so we can control it with a laptop. My last project was to test a H2/O2 sensor to be used in the shuttle fuselage to determine leaks during ascent. The best thing about this tour was that I took my projects from a design stage to actual 3D objects that will be used here.

My second tour I worked in the EVA Systems group. I got certified in teaching how to use the SAFER which is a propulsion system attached to the astronaut's backpacks during ISS space walks. If an astronaut becomes detached from the Space Station while working outside they can use the SAFER to rescue themselves and fly back to the work site. I taught people how to fly using the hand controller in the virtual reality lab. My other two projects were to make a set of notes for the crew to use for training and while they are on a mission. The notes had information on the hardware that is used in the Space Station before and after an EVA. The best part of this tour is when I dove in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (the big pool) for 2.5 hours while the astronauts for the next Shuttle mission were training 5 feet away from me.

My third tour I worked in the Flight Mechanics and Trajectory Design Branch. One of my projects was to improve a vehicle mass sizing tool to be able to determine the approximate size of vehicles for certain mission architectures. My other project was to write a program that calculates all possible entry points for a given lunar return trajectory so the crew can get back from the moon at any time of the month and land at a specified location.

After those very long semesters of continuous studying, life as a co-op is the best thing ever!! And what better place to co-op that JSC. At work we have the chance to see all the cool things and places that nobody else can. The Neutral Buoyancy Lab (the big pool where astronauts train), the mock ups of the Space Station and Shuttle, the robots (Robonaut and miniAERCam), all the NASA airplanes, try on astronaut gloves and boots.. we even got to take pillows and blankets into the Apollo Mission Control Center and watch Apollo 13!!! We get to meet great people like Gene Kranz and Chris Kraft (they invented Mission Control).

Outside of work it's just as fun. There is some type of co-op activity going on every single weekday. On the weekends we go on trips, or go skydiving, scuba diving.we'll work on other types of diving eventually.

I also became a volunteer firefighter, which is one of the best things I have ever done. It is an awesome way to help people, and really, how many people have the chance to go into a burning building and not get burned? Where else would you learn things like handling ladders and giant water hoses???

Being a co-op is almost the best decision I have ever made, being a NASA co-op was the best one! I love talking about NASA, if you have any questions I will be more than happy to answer them. And if you're a fellow aggie, I will be happy to meet with you and tell you everything I know about co-oping at JSC.

My email at school: caro@neo.tamu.edu