Marissa Boccher: Well-Grounded
2016-09-12
When she was 12 years old, Marissa Boccher was quite literally “grounded” by her mother, who insisted that condition would last Boccher’s entire life. While this may sound like a conversation with any modern preteen, it meant something completely different for Boccher: She was jokingly grounded from ever leaving Earth and traveling into outer space.
Boccher’s love for space began when she attended a space camp in elementary school. The camp was her first real exposure to a day in the life of an astronaut. Teams were formed, and she was elected a mission commander of the medical team. The camp had renovated an old school bus to resemble a space shuttle and “launched” a programmed rover to survey the parking lot. Not long after Boccher returned home, she knew she wanted to do nothing in life but explore the universe.
In high school, Boccher took every opportunity to connect with NASA—including participating in the Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars, an extension of Johnson Space Center’s High School Aerospace Scholars program. The Virginia project was a yearlong, online program culminating in a visit to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to work on a simulated mission to Mars. Boccher went on to participate in NASA’s Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience, or NASA INSPIRE. NASA INSPIRE was an online learning community providing science, technology, engineering and mathematics information to high school students to help equip them with the skills and knowledge needed for college.
After Boccher was “grounded,” she discovered aerospace engineering, her current major at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She loves the field because it provides “limitless opportunities to create and innovate,” and she has always wanted to help construct spacecraft that will take humans far beyond our home planet. Although being the first engineer in her family may have been even more challenging, Boccher loves the rigorous challenges that her studies provide. Since she realized that aerospace engineering was for her, Boccher has been dreaming of working for NASA.
Boccher’s first chance to work with the agency came this summer when she was selected to intern at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. She is part of the Visiting Vehicle Cargo Integration team, working to understand the launch and return capabilities of commercial and international partner vehicles. Boccher also helps review and assess new cargo requests for flight in comparison to what the cargo vehicle is capable of carrying to the International Space Station.
“Marissa has been quick to learn the visiting vehicle cargo integration processes and has developed several effective tools,” said Suzan Voss, her mentor. She continued to explain how Boccher “has automated the development of the Mass Property Report, which is provided to our commercial resupply vehicle providers. Marissa is very enthusiastic and dives right into any task assigned and quickly brings forward the product for team review.”
Because much of the work on the space station is done through partnerships with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, Boccher has been able to put some of her Russian language minor to the test. She is also taking a Russian class offered on-site, which allows her to practice and improve what she has been learning at school.
Boccher’s internship also has exposed her to a new field of engineering—systems engineering—and she plans to eventually obtain her master’s degree in that field. The pinnacle of her dreams, though, is to have a permanent position at NASA … perhaps even one that defies her mother’s rules about staying on the ground.
Are you interested in having an intern take your project to the next level? Click here.
You can read more student stories at JSC’s new internship website.
Leah Cheshier
NASA Johnson Space Center Internship Program
Boccher’s love for space began when she attended a space camp in elementary school. The camp was her first real exposure to a day in the life of an astronaut. Teams were formed, and she was elected a mission commander of the medical team. The camp had renovated an old school bus to resemble a space shuttle and “launched” a programmed rover to survey the parking lot. Not long after Boccher returned home, she knew she wanted to do nothing in life but explore the universe.
In high school, Boccher took every opportunity to connect with NASA—including participating in the Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars, an extension of Johnson Space Center’s High School Aerospace Scholars program. The Virginia project was a yearlong, online program culminating in a visit to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to work on a simulated mission to Mars. Boccher went on to participate in NASA’s Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience, or NASA INSPIRE. NASA INSPIRE was an online learning community providing science, technology, engineering and mathematics information to high school students to help equip them with the skills and knowledge needed for college.
After Boccher was “grounded,” she discovered aerospace engineering, her current major at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She loves the field because it provides “limitless opportunities to create and innovate,” and she has always wanted to help construct spacecraft that will take humans far beyond our home planet. Although being the first engineer in her family may have been even more challenging, Boccher loves the rigorous challenges that her studies provide. Since she realized that aerospace engineering was for her, Boccher has been dreaming of working for NASA.
Boccher’s first chance to work with the agency came this summer when she was selected to intern at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. She is part of the Visiting Vehicle Cargo Integration team, working to understand the launch and return capabilities of commercial and international partner vehicles. Boccher also helps review and assess new cargo requests for flight in comparison to what the cargo vehicle is capable of carrying to the International Space Station.
“Marissa has been quick to learn the visiting vehicle cargo integration processes and has developed several effective tools,” said Suzan Voss, her mentor. She continued to explain how Boccher “has automated the development of the Mass Property Report, which is provided to our commercial resupply vehicle providers. Marissa is very enthusiastic and dives right into any task assigned and quickly brings forward the product for team review.”
Because much of the work on the space station is done through partnerships with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, Boccher has been able to put some of her Russian language minor to the test. She is also taking a Russian class offered on-site, which allows her to practice and improve what she has been learning at school.
Boccher’s internship also has exposed her to a new field of engineering—systems engineering—and she plans to eventually obtain her master’s degree in that field. The pinnacle of her dreams, though, is to have a permanent position at NASA … perhaps even one that defies her mother’s rules about staying on the ground.
Are you interested in having an intern take your project to the next level? Click here.
You can read more student stories at JSC’s new internship website.
Leah Cheshier
NASA Johnson Space Center Internship Program
Intern Marissa Boccher participates in Introduction Day at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Image Credit: NASA