For my Senior Experience, I chose to shadow Benjamin Van Lear. Ben works at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Specifically, he is currently working on the Orion program which is undergoing its critical design review. During my time at NASA, I met people and got to see things that I otherwise never would have, and for that I am grateful. I will never forget my time spent at NASA.
Part One: Describe what you did during your Senior Experience and relate one or two important (memorable? significant?) events that affected you personally. Throughout my senior experience, I believe that I have shown myself to be intellectually competent. While at NASA, I have spent a significant portion of my time doing research on NASA’s past…show more content… I was able to meet with aerospace, industrial, mechanical, and structural engineers, all of whom contribute in their own unique way to make NASA successful. Because covering each type of engineering specifically would be too difficult, I will instead focus on NASA and its impacts on our society and culture. It would be unfair to NASA if I did not go all the way back to its origins as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). NACA was on the cutting edge of aviation during its existence. For example, it was NACA who helped first break the sound barrier with the Bell X-1. In 1958, NACA was replaced by NASA because of the new focus on outer space. With the Cold War looming, American’s eyes were turned to the work being done by NASA. It was NASA who would lead to America winning the space race, thus asserting America’s greatness over the Soviet Union. During this time period, the youth of America was inspired to become engineers so that they too could achieve feats of similar magnitude later in their lives. It is undeniable that NASA played a big role in American culture back then and its ability to inspire a nation has yet to be matched. Unfortunately, after landing a man on the moon, NASA slowly became less and less influential in American culture. No longer was NASA able to unite the entire country for one cause, but that does not mean that their work is not
