Dana Valish...

About Me

I am a Mechanical Engineering major at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. GO BIG RED! When I’m not sitting in class or doing homework, I like to be outside playing sports or inside watching sports. I really enjoy playing softball and sand volleyball as much as possible. However, when the weather is bad, I’m perfectly content with staying inside to watch the Cubs or Huskers! Most of all, I love NASA! I can’t think of anything more exciting and influential than what is being accomplished at NASA every single day. That is why I quit my job in the finance world and went back to school. I took a pretty big leap just to get the opportunity to work for NASA…and it was absolutely worth it!

Here's My Story

I’m originally from Columbus, NE but I moved to Lincoln, NE after high school to go to the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. I graduated in May 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and worked as a Financial Analyst with the local cable company. I had a good job and plenty of fun stuff to do outside of work but I just felt like something was missing. I wanted to do something with my life that would have meaning and substance. I wanted to do something that would change people’s lives. This all led me to NASA. I had followed several of the different programs (Shuttle, Mars exploration, etc.) for a long time and I really believe in what NASA accomplishes. I thought to myself “How cool would it be to be able to work for NASA!” So, I started to look at the different degrees that people working at NASA have and the one that struck my interest was engineering. I did some research on what type of things Engineers get to do and Mechanical Engineering felt like a perfect fit. Already being in the real world for a while, I wanted to see what opportunities were available for students while working on their degree. I finally came across this very same website talking about the Cooperative Education Program available at NASA. I read many of the bios, just like you are doing right now, and knew that this is what I wanted to do. I decided to take the leap and quit my job to go back to school full-time to pursue an Engineering degree. I had read how many applicants there usually are for the JSC Co-op program and just thought that I was going to apply and keep re-applying until I was finally accepted some day. I worked with my Co-op office at UNL to send in my first application in the summer of 2007. I eventually got a phone interview in the fall and a short while later, on the way home from class, I received a phone call saying I had been accepted! So now, I’m the 30 year old Co-op!

My First Tour (Spring 2008)

The first tour is assigned to you and the letter I received said I was assigned to the “Expedition Vehicle Division within our Mission Operations Directorate.” This was my first exposure to “NASA Talk.”

Sidenote: My definition of “NASA Talk” - acronyms and descriptions of things without using commonly known English vocabulary. Example: A light fixture. NASA Talk: GLA - General Luminaire Assembly.

Historic MCC

OK, back to my first tour. People would say to me “Wow, you are going to work for NASA! What are you going to be working on?” And I would reply “I have no idea.” I mean, I thought I knew NASA pretty well and knew that the crew missions on board the International Space Station (ISS) were referred to as “expeditions” but still didn’t know what I was going to be doing. On my first day, I was told I was in DI43 - Station Systems Training and later in the day I was taken to our building and introduced to my mentor. She gave me a quick run down of what DI43 did and what I would be doing on my tour. Basically, DI43 is composed of Trainers who train Astronauts and Flight Controllers on how the Electrical Power System (EPS) and the Thermal Control System (TCS) work on ISS. Currently, JSC is going through a transition where the Flight Controllers and Trainers will all be in one group. But for my tour, I was going to be considered just as an EPS Trainer. I spent the first several weeks reading manuals on EPS and taking several of the same classes that Astronauts and Flight Controllers take. Everything was very exciting and interesting to learn. One goal set for me was to certify to teach one of the classes. The class I was assigned was “Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) Commanding.” I was very excited about getting this class given all the recent issues with one of the SARJs on the Station. I did certify and was able to teach it to some of the other trainers in my group who needed it. Another thing the trainers do, which I got to experience, is to hold simulations (SIMS) for flight controllers and crew to work on malfunctions that could happen on the station. Also, since we are training Flight Controllers, it is important to see what they do during their job, so I was able to sit at console in the ISS Mission Control Center several times and observe!

Another cool thing about being a Co-op was getting to go on several different tours of the facilities and lectures from many important NASA personnel, Astronauts obviously included. The people were all down to Earth, pun intended, and very encouraging. Just one of the memories I’ll never forget is meeting one of the last men (currently) to walk on the moon, Jack Schmidt.

Meeting Jack Schmidt	Fire Rescue Body Drag Volunteer

Outside of work

Life outside of work is never boring, as many of the other bios have probably mentioned. There are always Co-op events going on. I played in softball, volleyball, flag football, and broomball to name a few. There is a pretty wide variety of Co-ops, so there’s bound to be someone that wants to do something that you are in to. It’s really up to you what you want to make of it. You can participate in everything, if that’s even possible, or as few things as you’d like or can handle. In general, the Co-ops are all really great people and very helpful in getting you into the flow of things. I came to Houston not knowing a single person and now I’m leaving my first tour with several new great friendships.

Softball Tournament	Houston Rodeo

Future Plans

I still have plenty of school to go through for my degree, so I’m planning on my next tour being Spring 2009 and my final tour being Summer 2010. I have already been accepted to be in EC5 for my next tour and I will get the chance to help develop the next generation space suits for the Constellation program!

Hopefully after reading this you’ll believe that anything is possible. I heard it a million times but didn’t start really believing until I was actually accepted into the Co-op Program. It took a lot of hard work, but if you really want something, you are the only one that can hold you back. I can’t remember if I read it in one of the other bios or just heard it in a movie or somewhere, but there’s a saying that I really like that goes something like this: “You can only fail when you quit trying”

Questions? Feel free to email me at dana.j.valish@nasa.gov (during my tours) or at dvalish@hotmail.com anytime.