Vic Reyes

Dr. Neebel

NASA Astronautics

1/23/2020

Reflection

NASA’s Space Center Houston was one of the coolest and most interesting places I have had the
opportunity of visiting. This visit provided me with the opportunities to learn about what NASA is doing
for the future of humanity as well as some more common learning tools such as working in a team
environment and working with a time restriction. I was able to learn about topics such as heat
protection and building a habit capable of housing humans outside of Earth. The tours of the Space
Center were shocking. I was able to see the Neutral Buoyancy Lab where astronauts undergo some of
their training, as well as the mission control center where people on the ground aid astronauts during
space exploration. This trip taught me a lot about what NASA does, but it also taught me about what I
am capable of and possibly gave me some new hobbies.

During our trip to NASA we were able to participate in several activities throughout the week.
The first activity was building a model rocket, which I had never done before. I was very excited to get
started with this project, although I quickly learned that I have a patience problem when it comes to
waiting for glue to dry. My partner, Tyler, and I decided to build a “Quest” model rocket with three fins
on each of the two stages. We figured that three fins would help keep the weight of the rocket down
significantly as opposed to four fins on each stage. We tried our best to work through all of the gluing
and waiting, but I think that those were weak point for both of us. As a consequence, our rocket caught
fire during launch most likely because of an error in the construction of it. The second activity that we
were able to do was building and presenting a mockup of a Mars habitat. This was another challenging
project because it involved more gluing, cutting, and waiting, however, I was able to learn about the
different factors that go into surviving on Mars. For example, we had to develop a power source, a
water source, an oxygen source, shelter, and a way to grow food on Mars. Another activity that we did
was creating a heat shield and cryogenic shelter. The heat shield is meant to protect the spaceship and
astronauts inside of the spaceship from the heat generated during re-entry. We were able to choose
between different materials in order to build the best possible heat shield and cryogenic shelter. The
design was meant to withstand a direct flame on one side and keep an egg from overheating on the
other side. The cryogenic shelter was designed to keep a marshmallow from reaching too cool of a
temperature when submerged in liquid nitrogen. Next, we were able to go SCUBA diving and run
through some exercises that were meant to represent some of the things that astronauts do in the NBL.
To finish off the week, we built and programmed robots in order to simulate what it was like to create
and use the Mars Rovers. This was one of my favorite activities, especially the coding section.

We were also able to go on several tours throughout the trip, all of which were very interesting.
However, the two that stood out them most to me were the mission control tour and the Neutral
Buoyancy Lab tour. Being able to see mission control and all of the individual stations that are in charge
of specific operations during space travel was shocking to me. I enjoyed how they had every patch from
every space mission posted along the wall. It was very cool to see live footage of astronauts on the
International Space Station. This tour taught me about how many people are necessary in order to have
a successful mission into space and how important working in a team environment is at NASA. The tour
of the NBL was also incredibly interesting, mostly because of the awe that I felt when I first saw the
mockup of the ISS inside of a giant swimming pool. The pool reached 40ft deep and is the place where
astronauts not only go to train, but also work out problems in order to give ideas to other astronauts
that are running into issuing in space. During this tour I learned that being underwater is the closest we
can really get experiencing zero gravity. For example, if you drop a tool underwater, it will still sink, but
not as fast as it would on land. In space the stool would kind of just float there unless it had some sort
of force pushing it in a direction. I also learned that divers are important to NASA as they are bale to
help astronauts during their training in the NBL. The training that goes on in the NBL is essential in
preparing astronauts for life in space as well as EVA’s or Extravehicular Activities.

The three activities that I found most interesting or learned the most from were building and
launching the model rocket, SCUBA diving, and robotics. When building the rocket, I learned about
calculated risks as well as decision making and teamwork. Earlier I mentioned patience, but I knew
about that issue prior to my NASA experience. In terms of calculated risks, my partner and I had to
decide how we wanted to build the rocket in order for it to be fast and reach a high altitude. We
decided to risk making the fins smaller in order to have less weight on the rocket. In the end, we
unfortunately did not get a true test of the fins’ capabilities because our rocket caught fire very soon
after launch. However, I was put in a situation where I had to decide if that risk was worth it or not.
Another important learning point was decision making, which also played a part in taking risks, however,
most of our decision making had to do with our budget and design. The first decision we had to make
was which type of model rocket to use. We wanted to build a rocket that was lightweight and fast so we
chose the “Quest” rocket even though it was a more difficult build. Next, we had to make a decision of
whether or not to cut out our payload from the second stage, or spend money on a payload from the
inventory. We chose to spend money on a payload in order to save ourselves time from measuring and
cutting a payload out of the second stage. This decision not only had to do with money, but also time
management. I feel that my partner and I worked well together on the rocket even though it did not
turn out as planned.

The next activity that stood out to me was SCUBA diving. I found this activity to be a challenge
and learned a little bit about myself. I have never gone SCUBA diving before, so I was both excited and
nervous. A big adjustment that I had to make was deliberately breathing through my mouth. I normally
breathe through my nose, but when SCUBA diving I had to breathe through my mouth. I also had to
adjust to actually being able to breathe underwater. My mind kept telling me that I should swim up for
air so I had to keep reminding myself that there was no need to hold my breath. Once I got the hang of
breathing underwater, I was able to have a lot of fun during this activity. I learned about the different
tasks that astronauts may have to do during their neutral buoyancy training as well as some of my own
capabilities. I enjoyed this activity so much that I really would like to SCUBA dive again.

The last activity that stood out to me was the robotics coding activity. I really enjoyed learning
about coding while we were still at Loras, so I was excited to see what we would be doing at NASA. I
have done very simple coding before, and I did enjoy it, but I was nervous about doing more advanced
coding. However, I ended up really enjoying the coding software that we used at NASA and the one we
used here at Loras. I enjoyed the actual coding of the robot even more and the testing. I was
determined to get the robot to move through the course perfectly and even though I did not quite
achieve my goal, I had a lot of fun. One thing that was frustrating during this activity was that during
testing my robot moved through the course almost flawlessly. My ending point was probably less than
six inches off. However, during the actual recorded test my robot fell off of the course and I am still not
sure why because I did not change anything from my final test to the recorded tests. Despite that, I
really enjoyed coding and it is something that I think I can turn into a hobby in the future.

To conclude, the activities that we were able to participate in taught me about science, but also
about myself. They taught me that I am capable of working with a partner on several projects, able to
make decisions based on a budget and time management, that I need to work more on being patient,
and that there are some things such as SCUBA diving and coding that I really enjoy doing. This trip
taught me to try new things with a positive attitude and have fun while doing those things, even if they
can be frustrating at times. I also was able to learn a lot about astronautics which was very fun and
interesting to me. The tours were some of my favorite parts of this trip because we were able to learn
about what it takes to be an astronaut, the work that goes into space missions, and the science behind
space travel in general. I enjoyed how friendly and informative the people at NASA are and how they
were open to all of our questions. This whole experience taught me that there is a lot more that I can
learn about and that is very exciting to me.