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It was any other day when Nicole Weidman walked down the hallway of Engineering North building and passed one of the many flyers posted on a bulletin board.
But that’s how her journey to NASA began.
“After I saw the flyer, I just searched Google for NASA internships and found an undergraduate program and went on the site and started filling out the applications online,” Weidman said.
Weidman, a mechanical and aerospace engineering junior, received an offer that summer to be an intern at NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va.
Weidman left her home in Tulsa to begin her 15-week internship on Aug. 17. Although she said it was difficult leaving her parents, she was ready to get to work.
As an undergraduate student research program intern, Weidman worked in the software engineering branch, where she worked on simulation labs.
Weidman worked with Satellite Tool Kit often, which is a computer program that recreates launches.
She said she collects data from the engineers and creates what the launch will look like. The program calculates the different angles that go into a launch.
“It’s cool because it’s actually important, and I get to do it. It’s not just an internship where you’re doing stuff that’s not real like getting coffee or something,” Weidman said.
Weidman’s NASA mentor Sarah Daugherty said Weidman kept up with her assignments well.
“We’ve thrown a ton of different things at her,” Daugherty said. “We never usually have just one project and she’s done really well shifting gears and being flexible.”
Daugherty said NASA chooses interns based on what they’re studying in school and what it thinks fits what it is looking for at the time.
“We like to have students in there that are studying those things in school and are fresh in their mind so they can bring a perspective outside of computer software so we can learn from them the ins and outs of all the types of engineering.”
Weidman said her favorite activity at work was sitting in on a few range-readiness reviews, where the staff gets together for five-hour meetings to make sure the launches are ready and discuss everything from safety to weather.
“Sitting in on those meetings makes it feel like you’re really a part of the launch and the mission,” Weidman said.
A major benefit interns get from Wallops is the experience of working in one of the smaller NASA bases, Daugherty said.
“They get the most out of a small-team environment where people know you and know your capabilities,” Daugherty said.
Weidman finished her internship a couple weeks ago and said she’s eager to get back to OSU.
“It’s kind of weird that I actually miss going to the library,” she said. “You just miss the whole experience of college.”
However, Weidman said this internship helped her decide that she wants to work for NASA and maybe become an astronaut one day.
“Maybe I will be,” she said. “I still have around four years, but I guess we will see what God has in his plan for me.”
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