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NASA's Wallops Flight Facility
Audrey: I think the students are here really to know what it's like to build
a sounding rocket payload.
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Chris: Really what NASA does best is you know, not only inspiring but
connecting people with space.
RockOn
Chris: So RockOn is just one of those steps that create those openings for students
around the country to have some real-world hands-on experience with a
connection to an actual space flight.
Audrey: I think one of the most rewarding things
for me is seeing the transformation of the students throughout the workshop. By
the time it's Monday or Tuesday and we're getting ready for integration,
they're high five and the helpers helpers all know them by name and it's
just great seeing this transformation of someone who's so closed off someone who's
completely broken out of their shell.
Chris: When I interact with students, I want them to feel comfortable,
I want them to have fun, because I feel like that's when
they're gonna learn their most. It's not uncommon for me when I'm working with
students to be in costume, today even I'm Captain Picard from the Starship
Enterprise. I try to break down walls when I'm working with students and faculty;
but suddenly the focus is on the "crazy" guy and not "do I belong here?" So, they're
most comfortable, ready to have fun but also ready to learn.
Audrey: We have students end up soldering on to, on resistors and capacitors and LEDs and
a bunch of other connectors and they, build all that up, we run them through
code. Monday, we finish up the coding and then we put everything on the plate, do a
final check-in and we integrate to the canisters and it's just a whirlwind of a day.
There are students here who aren't engineering students, or you know are
just majoring in physics or chemistry, and we had a couple humanities people
here and in the end, they came out with a rocket payload. So, it doesn't really
matter where you're from, what your background, is you can do it.
Jasmine: It's just a really unique experience, I think. Everyone should do it even if they're
not interested in engineering or anything space-related. It's just cool!
Javel: I haven't been to launch before, but I have a feeling that it's going to be kind of
surreal. I've seen on TV, so seeing it in person is actually a blessing.
Jasmine: I'm expecting it to be loud, I'm expecting it to be big, and I'm expecting it to be fun.
Asma: Oh so excited, like every time I think about it my heart starts racing, and I'm
like okay yes, I'm waiting for that day!
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Chris: Launch is definitely the highlight, to
see that thing ignite. So everyone still counts ten nine eight...
seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero.
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Chris: It's hard to take your eyes off the flame, but if you do just for that moment,
you see life happening all around you. Their brains are recording this for the
rest of their lives. Their experiencing something that they've worked hard for,
and to me that's almost as exciting as watching the launch.
Javel: I also feel as if you can learn this stuff here, you're ready to take the next steps towards
what you want to do in the future.
Audrey: I think just having you know a student who's
clearly been affected by RockOn in this way in terms of their personality in
terms of their confidence level, kind of speaks to the success of the program. It
doesn't really matter if your experiment comes back and it didn't work, we like to
make sure that people are comfortable here and I think that we do a good job
doing that, and everyone leaves here pretty satisfied with the program.
So I can say whenever I want? Okay, Rock on!
Rock On! Rock On! Rock On! Rock On!
Explore, NASA
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