Catching Up. Final Fall Semester of ASE Undergrad

I almost let the blog go, but I realized that I had actually posted a few posts on it. I am in my last Fall

My senior seminar signed off!

semester of the Aerospace undergrad. I cannot tell you how unreal that feeling is. It is exciting and very terrifying. At this point in every soon to be graduating senior, the unknown is a huge black hole that is threatening to swallow you whole. There are many options and doors that you want to open, but the bottomline, are you valuable enough to be given the keys to open these doors presented to you.

Many doors lay open, one of great importance to me is Graduate School. I would love to go further with my career. As self centered as this sounds, I am destined for greatness. I truly believe this. This "greatness" that i speak of is nothing like ruling a country or winning some kind of Academy award, but achieving the goals i have set forth for myself. Truly and entirely inspiring kids, especially young women into the field of science and engineering, to be apart of a *manned* space expedition, whether it be on the vessel or the project manager of the project. Grad school is something that i

MSU Space Cowboys at USLI Competition 2013

have been seriously considering for the past few months. I recently found out about a particular program called Space Studies. I believe that degree is what I need to take me further. So I am planning on applying at University of North Dakota as well as the International Space University (in France) for a MS in Space Studies. I think I will excel in the degree considering my experience with my rocket design team Space Cowboys.

Another door, or I suppose a couple of doors are the possibility of an actual job. I have been applying like a mad woman. As Lockheed Martin's Alan Lowrey put it, "You are trying to get a job, you are starting your career." These are words that are very hard to live by because as someone who wants to be in manned spaceflight, that is not an easy job to just luck into as a new graduate. We will see how everything goes.

I take the GRE in December after classes have let out. So I am going to begin studying for that soon. I will probably have the most trouble with the verbal section. I haven't had to think along those lines in years. I also have some exciting news coming up within the world of MK. That will be announced pretty soon. I will most

Me in front of a SaternV at Marshall

likely talk a lot about it on this blog. In the world of Aerospace undergrad. It is Panel Project time! Which means we are building an aluminum panel with stringers. This had to be designed, analyzed, optimized, fabricated and tested for our Structures III class. It is a rite of passage for all seniors in MSU Aerospace. It has been challenging and I know it will be rewarding at the end of it. Just gotta make it to the end. My group is testing our panels this coming Thursday November 14th. We still need to finish routing the bracers as well as plaster the endcaps. Then we will be ready for testing. After testing we are off to writing the final report. The experience I have through rocket team with writing technical reports should be help and make this go smoothly. The end of the semester is coming quickly. Soon I will be in my last semester of my undergraduate degree and moving on to the next chapter of my life. I can't tell you how sad that makes me. I have made amazing friends my journey through my undergrad. It terrifies me what is to come. Especially if it is moving out of the south or where I am our of Kingdom (SCA). But what I know to be true about myself, whatever comes my way I will hit it with force, grace, honor and courtesy.

Here we go.

“... there is no shame in not knowing. The problem arises when irrational thought and attendant behavior fill the vacuum left by ignorance.” - Neil DeGrasse Tyson

ASE Department: Some times you wanna go where everybody knows your name.

The Mississippi State University Aerospace Department is one of the best departments to ever be apart of. Why do I say this? The past couple of months we have been interviewing new candidates to fill a teaching position at the department. Our department sets up a time where students can sit down and just chat with the candidate. See what they are like and see how well they would fit within our department. We had another candidate lunch this past Thursday, and like how they all quickly disolve into the students talking about how much of a family atmosphere the Aerospace Department has. It is really unlike anything, I think, you will find in the world. We all know how important it is to help one another. This doesnt just go for students, the faculty and staff are the same way. Professors will bend over backwards to help a student with anything they need. One example of this is from last semseter. I was having a lot of problems understanding a class I was taking called Vibrations. I was telling my mom one day in the department how difficult it was and how much trouble I was having in the class. When one of my professors, Dr. KeKo, had overheard my phone call. He called me into his office once I was off of the phone, and proceeded to ask me about the class. By the time I left his office he had offered to tutor me in the subject. Dr. KeKo, like all of our professors, are very busy with their own research, classes and students, and he decided to give me some of his precious time to help me with this subject that was quite honestly kicking my butt. And honestly, if he hadn't stepped up like he had, I would not have made it through that class. This is just one case of how awesome my department is. The students go out of their way to help one another and so do the professors. I am so incredibly lucky to be apart of such a great department. When we get the new candidates in we always go into a complete spill about how much we love our department. It is the people that knit it together to be as great as it is, and we want them to realize that if they want to come into this department. Last semester I realized that if our department had a song, it would be the Cheers theme song. "Some times you wanna go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came...." That couldn't describe the MSU Aerospace Department more. That is how I feel when I walk into an ASE class or the Aero Lounge or the Aerospace First Friday (dinner at a bar with the department). It truly is special what we have here.



I know this has probably been cheesy. Just a complete love fest at my department, but when you are in pursuit of a career in rocket science, it honestly is the best atmosphere to surround yourself in.

"The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way they could get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode." -Lawrence Krauss

My Golden Ticket: Being One of the lucky 150 for STS135 NASA Tweetup

I am still in slight shock from what happened to me around noon on Friday, June 10th...

I had just gotten out of my Numerical Analysis class and was at lunch with some aerobuddies (and other non-aero friend). We were talking about what were our plans for the weekend and other random events. I knew there was going to be an announcement of the selected that day and was going to check my email before I headed to work. I pulled up my phone and I saw it....

"Congratulations, you have been selected to attend the NASA Tweetup on July 7-8 for space shuttle Atlantis' targeted launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida!"

I literally almost fell out of my chair out of excitement. I kept rereading the email to make sure I wasn't just seeing things or making things up. When I signed up for the NASA Tweetup, I never thought I would actually get chosen. I couldn't believe my good fortune. Still in shock I called my father about it and squeed on the phone for a good 30mins. I was literally on Cloud 9 the rest of the weekend. Such an amazing opprotunity was given to me. I waited for an hour before actual posting anything on my status on facebook. i wanted to clear my head so that I could actually form sentences. The status I posted was this:

"I was one of the 150 out of 5,500 people chosen to attend the STS135 NASA TweetUp!!! I can not describe how thrilled I am right now. I actually feel like I could blast off any moment!! What an amazing opportunity this is. I am truly honored!"



That weekend, I continued to go back and reread the email. Not to mention the amazing group of people I found myself among. Between the facebook group and Twitter, so many amazing Space Tweeps were on my twitter feed and notifications box! I was among so many vastly different people who shared my passion for space. It was a chilling experience to take a step back from tweeting, retweeting, commenting, and posting things and fully realizing how truly amazing this experience was going to be. I am still getting chills thinking about it as I type this.

I am so truly honored to be among these people and for being chosen by the NASA Tweetup crew.

I want to thank @NASATweetup for giving me this amazing opportunity that will be something I will continue to look back on. I will hopefully one day build rockets that will instill such awe and amazment that the Shuttles remain to instill in myself.

I know some NASA Tweetup folks will be reading this, so to all of you, I simply cannot wait to meet you all in person and share this life changing experience. I am honored to be counted among all of you amazing fellow space tweeps. See you in Florida!

Interested in keeping up with the #STS135 #NASATweetup crew? Follow the list here:
STS135 NASATweetup List

Interested in following what I do? Follow me here:
Mary Kate (@TimeLord_mk)

I also have a dailybooth:
MK Dailybooth

"Let's face it, space is a risky business. I always considered every launch a barely controlled explosion."— Aaron Cohen