Leading human space exploration: The story continues

Each year, thousands of students contribute to the story of human space exploration as they accept internship opportunities at a NASA center or field site. At Johnson Space Center alone, several hundred students across multiple divisions dive into exciting projects throughout the year. Though a 10-week summer internship may not seem like enough time, students make great contributions worthy of celebration each year.

At the 2017 JSC Summer Intern Award Ceremony, more than 120 interns gathered in the Teague Auditorium to reflect on their time at Johnson. Ralph Grau, deputy manager of the International Space Station Program External Integration Office, joined as the keynote speaker and shared his wisdom and experience with the interns before co-presenting awards with the Internships team. Over 50 interns were nominated by their mentors for their ingenuity, innovation and significant contributions within Johnson organizations. Among the nominations, seven interns were awarded for their exceptional impact to NASA’s missions and projects.

Receiving the program’s highest and most prestigious award—Outstanding Intern—was rising, local high school senior Britney Fang of Clear Creek High School. Fang interned with mentor Lauren Rush-Bakalyar in the Flight Operations Directorate Planning and Procedures Branch.

In just over two months, Fang developed a script connecting spacecraft data, making it available to a flight control data display and thereby enabling the flight control team to monitor vehicle performance. This script reduces the time it takes for the flight controller to configure the display upon startup and is projected to save an estimated 2,000 hours of configuration effort just within the next year. She also automated the planning integration between space station and commercial crew partners, reducing the time it takes a planner to prepare data for exchange with the space station by 20 percent. Fang’s work is currently being used in Boeing commercial crew simulations and will also be used for the commercial crew missions during flight.

Receiving awards in the category of Honorable Mention were: Frances Manahan (Missouri University of Science and Technology; mentor Nancy Zigler; project: High School Aerospace Scholars) and Kaitlin Ryan (Northeastern University; mentor Richard Danielson; project: Data Management and Analysis of Hearing Assessments and Otoacoustic Emissions).

Recipients receiving awards in the category of Outstanding Achievement included: Joshua Fogel (University of Southern California; mentor Frank Monahan; project: Astrodynamic Trajectory Analysis), Javier Doll (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; mentor Frank Monahan; project: Atmospheric Entry Analysis for Mars Vehicles), William Aigner (The University of Texas at Austin; mentor Russell Bachtel; project: Mechanical Systems Integration Plan Development) and James Bowser (University of Toledo; mentors Alex Tovar and Ken Fiorelli; project: Integrated Launch Vehicle Modal Test).
 
If you are a Johnson team member and want to enhance your leadership skills, develop talent in your organization, advance your project and create a legacy, learn more about how you can request a summer intern here.