Columbia tragedy doesn’t faze NASA’s student employees
February 24, 2003
ISU students who have worked with staff and equipment at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center say the destruction of the space shuttle
Columbia has only strengthened their commitment to their career
goals.
Jill Cattrysse, senior in aerospace engineering, and David
Shoemaker, senior in mechanical engineering, are two of a select
few college students who participate in cooperative education
programs at NASA. Both have spent three sessions at Kennedy Space
Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., during the last three years,
alternating semesters of school and work in a typical engineering
co-op format.
Cattrysse said she has wanted to become an astronaut since she
was in ninth grade. “I didn’t want to do something plain, and I
wanted to do something that interested me,” she said.
Cattrysse said the space shuttle accident on Feb. 1 led her to
reflect on that goal.
“I kind of found myself re-evaluating what I wanted to do,” she
said. “The more I thought about it, it’s not any more dangerous for
astronauts to go into space today than [in the past]. Every single
one of them accepts those risks. I am willing to take those risks
to accomplish my goals.”
Shoemaker said the morning Columbia was scheduled to land was
full of activity and surprise.
“I got a call from another co-op that works down there now. I
was still asleep, so he had to leave a message,” he recalled. “I
listened to that message, jumped out of bed, and flipped on the
TV”
Shoemaker said since the accident he has been talking to friends
from NASA and learning about the mood there.
He also said he spent some time talking to a mentor assigned to
him during his time as a co-op at the space center.
Cattrysse said she had talked with some friends who work at the
facility, and thought she had an idea of what the employees there
are going through.
“The people down there identify themselves so much with the
spacecraft,” she said. “They deal with the hardware every day.”
Shoemaker said after graduation he would like to work in the
space industry, designing the “next generation” of spacecraft at a
place like Lockheed Martin, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or NASA
itself.
“[The accident] made me inspired to keep working on this stuff
and make it even better,” he said.
Shoemaker traces his desire to be involved in some way in space
exploration to the landing of the Mars Pathfinder vehicle on
Mars.
“July 4, 1997 … I said, ‘Yeah, I’m hooked, that’s what I want
to do,’ ” he said.
Both Cattrysse and Shoemaker said they worked on challenging
projects during each term at the space center.
“We have students at Johnson [Space Center] and Kennedy [Space
Center] pretty regularly,” said Larry Hanneman, program director of
engineering career services. He said students almost always return
from work with NASA excited about the important work they were able
to do.
Soon after Shoemaker returned from his first term in Cape
Canaveral, Hanneman said, he walked into Hanneman’s office with an
announcement.
“He said, ‘Larry, I’m not the same student I was when I left
here,’ ” Hanneman said.
After graduation, Cattrysse said she wants to work on spacecraft
design at an aerospace company. But she has an ulterior motive in
mind.
“I want to put myself in a position so that when NASA is looking
for more astronauts … I’d be a viable candidate,” she said.