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Copyright: How I Am Becoming An Astronaut

You can imagine that Barcelona has been a bit rowdy as patriotic fans are thrilled about Spain winning the Euro 2008 Soccer Championships! Everyone was running around excited and throwing fireworks in the city.
Yesterday was our official Welcome Ceremony for all the participants of International Space University. Some students wore their cultural attire related to their country. 29 countries are being represented this summer and we're all having a great time getting to know one another. It is...

I have arrived safely and finally am situated in my room. The building I am staying at is similar to an off-campus college housing residence. I am about to go out and venture to take the Metro into the city before we all have to meet for dinner. We've already received our first week of lecture study notes. Not everyone has arrived to register, but I have met some very awesome people from Canada, Israel, and France so far!

I am sitting here in the terminal waiting for my flight to board. My first stop is in London Gatwick, and then I am headed to Barcelona, Spain.

I have been very busy for the past two weeks trying to wrap up things at work as well as finalize school. By the way, I have officially completed my Master's requirements and I can now say I have a Masters in Aeronautical Science!

--Gotta GO!!! They're calling my boarding section!!! :) Here I go!!! (Sorry such a short post)

Next week I will be in Barcelona, Spain!!! I was selected to represent the Boeing Space Exploration Division in attending the International Space University's 2-month Space Studies Summer Program.

There will be a wide variety of lectures, activities, team projects, and workshops related to space. The program will give me an interdisciplinary and international perspective of the space sector and the global professional network.

Altogether, this will be a major experience for me on many levels....

The photographer onboard our flight posted his professional photos. Here are some additional shots from Sunday. It was hard to get that smile off my face. :)

Today was absolutely amazing. I experienced 1 Martian G (1/3 my body weight), 2 Lunar G's (1/6 my body weight), and 12 zero gravity parabolas. Workforce Florida, Brevard Workforce Development Board, Inc. (BWDB), Brevard Community College (BCC), SpaceTEC, and the Zero Gravity Corp (Zero-G) all made this possible for us to experience. THANK YOU!!! I know everyone had a blast on their flight. I seriously felt like an astronaut today!!! On Tuesday we will reunite as a group to take one big group...

We had a successful landing today of Discovery. I was not at KSC at the time of landing as I was attending a training class for my microgravity flight tomorrow. I am to report at noon and we will receive our flight suits and be briefed before the flight. On my way home from the training, I saw locals and tourists awaiting Discovery's landing along the road and at nearby parks. I pulled over to hear the sonic boom and watch Discovery land.



Here are some other pictures from landing and Discovery's...

This week has been absolutely fantastic! On Tuesday, I started the Microgravity Training Program with SpaceTec. A group of 75 Florida aerospace technicians, engineers and scientists have been split up into 3 flight groups. I am assigned to flight group 2 that will be flying next Sunday morning. We have been given presentations from a great group of program coordinators related to the microgravity environment. In our presentation today, we were shown the following video related to how fluids...

Atlantis's payload bay doors were closed and I figured it was the perfect time to take a photo of my standing on the left wing. Sometimes we'll have to "walk on the wing" to access certain tiles or parts from the upper surface. We're not allowed to wear shoes, so I have fabric "booties" on to protect the flight hardware.

Well here's something we don't normally see after a launch. Numerous concrete blocks and bricks from the flame trench were blown away during the STS-124 launch and ended up damaging some of the surrounding fence and were scattered throughout the launch site. We're not sure yet what caused this to happen, but it will be fixed in time for the next launch of Atlantis on October 8th. The pictures below are amazing. Be glad you were not on the launch pad when this happened!

You can read a little more...

Yesterday I watched the launch from the beach with some friends. It was nice because we watch the launch as we were swimming in the ocean. It was a great launch and beach day!

Last night, I completed the additional astronaut application forms and mailed in my transcripts. I'm officially complete with my application. :)

I did it!!!

I just finished applying to NASA's Astronaut Candidate Program. YEY!! However, after submitting my resume, I was granted access to complete some other NASA required forms. On Tuesday I need to call my eye doctor to get my eye prescription and mail in my transcripts. Then, I can completely submit all the required forms and I'll be done.

Below are just some of the Florida travelers that funded their own way to advocate the importance of space exploration with the Citizens for Space Exploration.


Pictured in this photo below are all of the students sponsored to attend this year. We are all very grateful of the opportunity that was given to us to experience this trip and to voice our concerns on the Hill. So..apparently in this picture I see I am the only one showing off their certificate. I thought everyone was doing that! How...

Today, my group has mostly had appointments with the Colorado and Washington congressional members. We visited the offices of Rep. Lamborn (CO.), Rep. Ken Salazar (CO.), Rep. Perlmutter (CO.), Rep. Udall (CO.), Rep. McMorris Rodgers (WA.), and Rep. John Salazar (CO.). In an hour we are having a reception where we invite the Representatives and Senators and their staff. We're really busy with the visits, so I won't be able to do much sight seeing. However, below are some shots from walking...

I am about to take off to the airport for the annual Washington D.C trip where the Citizens for Space Exploration gather to advocate the importance of space exploration and express to the members of Congress to continue their support in the budget. Tonight is the reception where all the members will meet each other. I will also be able to meet my other team members that I will join for congressional appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday. Well....here I go... :)

Visit this link to send your name to the Moon on board a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
http://lro.jhuapl.edu/NameToMoon/index.php

After running and biking about 6 miles, here I am about to crawl through the mud pit to get to the finish line:



Here I am submerged in the mud:



And then there is the after shot of me all muddy after the race and ready for a shower. :)


It was a fun, yet an exhausting day.

And some more pictures :)

Wish me luck! Tomorrow, I am participating in the 2008 Muddy Buddy Ride & Run in Orlando. The race features a 6-7 mile course and 5 obstacles. At the start of the race, I will run and my buddy will ride the bike. At the 1st obstacle, my buddy will drop the bike, complete the obstacle, and begin running. Then I will arrive, complete the obstacle, find our bike, and begin riding. All the other participating teams will continue leapfrogging each other through the entire course. At the end of the...

Space Shuttle Discovery made its way from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A in preparation for the STS-124 mission. The 3.4-mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building began at 11:47 p.m. on Saturday. Discovery arrived at the launch pad at 4:25 a.m. early Sunday morning. We're still on target for a May 31 launch date!!

I have been actively working with the Florida sector of the Citizens for Space Exploration as the annual Washington D.C trip is approaching at the end of May. The Citizens for Space Exploration is an organization comprised of multi-state taxpayers who support America's investment in space exploration. The organization represents private citizens, small business owners, students, teachers, space and non-space business representatives, and county and municipal officials. Together, our mission is...

Discovery rolled into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Saturday, where it was mated with the external tank and two solid rocket boosters. In this picture, Discovery is being lifted in the vertical position inside the VAB's transfer aisle, lowered into a high bay and joined with the tank and boosters atop the mobile launcher platform (MLP). Currently the Space Shuttle assembly is undergoing final checkouts before rolling out to Launch Pad 39A on May 3. I am actually scheduled to work on...

When I was in college I participated in NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program. It was an undergraduate team program where a we submitted a proposal to test an experiment in microgravity conditions. For two years in a row, our proposal was accepted and we were selected to perform the experiment in microgravity simulated by the KC-135 aircraft. I have been able to experience a total of 62 parabolas, weightless....AND IT WAS AWESOME!!! It's the closest I've been able to...

Tomorrow is Earth Day and it is intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. I took the recyclables bin out last night....I recycle paper at work....but I think I am going to start riding my bike around more. Today I started by biking to meet a friend at the park for some basketball instead of driving, but I am going to encourage myself to bike around to other places instead of driving.

The fight for a clean environment continues and you're invited to be a part...

Expedition 16 comes to an end tonight. Commander Peggy Whitson, Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and South Korean payload specialist So-Yeon Yi will undock from the International Space Station. They will undock with a Soyuz capsule aiming for an early morning landing in Kazakhstan. On top of the six-month mission, Astronaut Whitson is the first woman ISS commander and has remained in space for 377 days! This beats the record so far of any American in space.