Taking Flight at NASA

By Dean’s Intern Abbey Michaels at NASA

As intern to the International Space Station’s Media Lab, I work on various multimedia projects such as creating scripts, editing videos, writing for the newsletter, and helping out on various productions. One of the coolest things about my job is that I get to work with restricted 8K footage taken directly from the space station. I also get to help film astronauts in the studio when they need to make an appearance for local media.

My favorite part about working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center is the incredible amount of opportunities available to interns. Almost every week there is either a lecture, event, or tour that interns are invited to participate in. One of the coolest things I had the opportunity to observe was astronauts training underwater in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory where a to scale mock-up of the International Space Station resides emerged inside a giant pool.

Another aspect of my job is guest operations for launches and I will eventually have the opportunity to attend a launch later in my internship. I am also supporting the development of a documentary about the psychological effects of traveling in space. What makes interning at NASA so great is the opportunity to work on projects even outside of your assigned department. I never feel like I’ve run out of things to do or projects to help out on.

Before applying to the internship, I felt like NASA was way out of my reach. I thought you had to have a background in STEM to be eligible. After starting my position, I realized that NASA is full of all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds. It’s a great place to work no matter where your interests lie.