Internship at XCOR! (For Real This Time)

XCOR Lynx

Last November I received some correspondence from one of the co-founders of XCOR Aerospace about a possible internship with them. While it didn't end up working out for last year, this year I received an offer that I fully intend to accept.

XCOR... Mojave Air and Space Port. *Droooool*. It's every young rocket scientist's dream. Even just to live there would be great, but getting to work with actual rocket-powered vehicles day in and day out at the Space Port puts the cherry on top.

The link below paints a pretty good picture of what it's like to live and work in Mojave. Living conditions may be harsh, and there really isn't anything to do... except aerospace. And that's why they do a LOT of aerospace.

Mojave Rocketeers

First Time Flying

Aerospace engineering at Iowa State has a requirement that each student needs to gain at least two hours of flight experience. So I got to fly a plane for the first time last Tuesday, along with one other student. Basically I got to do all the controls except the throttle, and controlled the plane from takeoff to final approach (instructor did the tricky touch-down part). We even got to do some maneuvers such as stall recovery, rapid descent, slow flight, and some other basic stuff. It was a blast, and an interesting day for it too, with the clouds and the rain.

I don't have any video of me actually flying the plane (too busy flying to work a camera) so this entire video I am sitting in the back seat while the other student is flying.

Now I want to do it again. I've already been planning to get my pilot's license someday, but actually getting to fly makes me want to get it sooner rather than later. The plan is to be an engineer, work for awhile and earn money, then move to Alaska and be a bush pilot for awhile.

Possible New Blog Title

For the past several months I have been toying with the idea of renaming my blog. There is a reason for that. "Exploring Creation with Aerospace" sounds suspiciously similar to Apologia's "Exploring Creation with _____" series of science textbooks. I want my blog to sound more original.

However, I still want it to mean the same thing. This blog is all about, well, exploring creation with aerospace! So I got out a thesaurus and started brainstorming.

Exploring the Universe through Rocket Science
Exploring the Universe through Aerospace
Aerospace Adventures
Aerospace Adventuring
Adventuring in Aerospace
Adventure is Aerospace
Aerospace is Adventure
Aerospace Endeavors
Adventurous Aerospace Endeavors
An Adventurous Exploration of Aerospace
Aerospace to the Glory of God
A Continuous Upward Climb
Ladder to Space
The Adventures of a Rocket Scientist
The Adventures of a(n) [insert adjective here] Rocket Scientist
Rocket Science, A Big Universe, and an Even Bigger God

That's why they call it brainstorming.

If you have any ideas, don't hesitate to post a comment.

Aerospace Engineering at STEP

I'm all excited, because this next semester I'm going to be taking aerospace engineering via Secondary Technical Education Program. I don't know much yet; all I know is that its major outcomes are:

• Introduction to aerodynamics design and testing.
• Flight systems and areospace materials.
• Space life sciences and astronautics.

And its instructional focus is on: experiments, project testing and field trips.

It sounds right up my alley, and is completely free (considered part of high-school education). I'll post more about it when I get more information.

November Is a Lot of Things... But Not Rocketry Month.

I haven't written a post in a while, because I've been far too busy with a lot of things on my plate.

One of those things is my honors algebra 2 class, where I have been studiously learning the finer points of higher-level math. It is a very important subject to have under your belt if you're going to be an aerospace engineer.

Another thing that I have been involved in is NaNoWriMo, which is the short way to say "National Novel Writing Month." The goal is to write 50,000 words in one month, but I've set my goal to 100,000 OR to finish my novel, whichever comes first. If you could sum up the whole story into one sentence, it might go something like this: "An aspiring aerospace engineer foils the enemy's plot to control the planet." It's science fiction, as you may have already deduced. I don't claim to be an excellent writer or anything; this is just an event I participate in for fun. And it runs a common theme with one of my main ambitions, namely the exploration of the skies and beyond.

One other thing I'd like to mention is Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. It's a college down in Arizona that has sparked my interest, and has an aerospace engineering program that matches perfectly what I've been looking for. I still have a couple years before college, but I've started to think about it now. I also might look into the U of MN's aerospace engineering program, I've heard that theirs is pretty good, and it's much closer.

So my current rocket hasn't even been looked at in the past month or so, since my life has been taken up with so many other things. But High-5 will get lots of attention in the months to come.

I just thought that I would post this to let you know that I am still blogging!