NASA Program Offers Connecticut Students The Chance At A Role In Space Exploration

From Hartford Courant:  NASA Program Offers Connecticut Students The Chance At A Role In Space Exploration

Even though the future of space travel is uncertain, Connecticut students can still help prepare themselves to work for NASA by receving training through the Space Grant Consortium Program.
NASA tries to encourage students to work in fields that agency needs by giving each state money to form a coalition of higher education schools to run and administer the Space Grant Consortium Program.
Students who apply for the program are placed in internships, given projects and attend trainings that are meant to prepare them to work in fields related to science, technology, math and others connected to NASA.
"It's a great gateway to see what NASA's doing," said Jenna Daly, a University of Hartford student and former program participant. "You get a feel of what NASA does other than space. You know, it's not all just about space."

Daly is now a paid intern at Pratt & Whitney and largely credits her receiving the position to the experience she gained from the space grant program.
Though NASA is not all about space, it is of course what it is known for. The agency recently launched a successful rover mission to Mars and has plans to send another to the planet in 2016. Still, the direction space travel is headed is unclear.
"NASA is encouraging, they're funding, commercial space travel," said Tom Filburn, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Hartford and the director of the NASA CT Space Grant Consortium.
"If you go back to airplane travel of the twenties and thirties, people were struggling to make money on this. It wasn't until there were commercial entities that they did," said Filburn.
Currently, private entities are trying to profit from low orbit trips, which are 100 to 250 miles above the Earth where the International Space Station is located.
NASA's main role and niche continues to be space exploration. How much human space travel will be involved in the coming years is still hazy though.
"President Obama has not defined a manned exploration mission," said Filburn. "It's very expensive to send people into space."
A decision on space travel has big implications for United Technologies Corp., a Connecticut company that produces parts for NASA spacecrafts and suits for its astronauts. When it comes specifically to human travel, UTC has been the prime supplier for NASA's manned systems.
"That manned piece, is something that Connecticut has a long history of working with NASA on," Filburn said.
Even with no human missions planned, plenty of opportunities are still available to work in NASA.
While Daly is keeping her career options open and does not know if she wants to work for NASA, she is pleased that she has the space grant on her resume and has learned skills that could be useful to NASA if the right opportunity comes up.
For more information on the CT Space Grant Consortium Program, visit: ctspacegrant.org.