Weekly Summary 9
Monday, July 30th
Monday began our only completely Molly-less week. We had two presentations that day, one from a very old but engaging gentleman who calls NASA “the N.A.S.A.” and the other from the president of the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) who loves Ohio. Harkirat held a meeting to discuss details of the upcoming Houston trip. Jacob was steady and strong as the acting Logistics and Operations Manager (LOM), hosting the RAP session for the week in his room while Molly was abroad. At the RAP session, Spencer and Samira serenaded all of us with a musical weekly summary. The night proceeded to be filled with parachute testing and other group project work.
Tuesday, July 31st
On Tuesday, Samira decided to get sick and leave work early. The day was otherwise very uneventful, and the night was once again taken up by working on the group project and Gina and Kirsti watching, yet again, countless hours of the Olympics. Parachute drops, coding, and Kirsti accumulating over 10 Pringles cans were the events of the night (picture does not include nearly all cans).
Wednesday, August 1st
Wednesday was the day of the final presentation of anything by the Space Academy. We had the final poster presentations in the Ad Building Auditorium. The room was stuffed full of interns eager to talk about what they did this summer. Samira was still sick, so she was not there and she didn’t get to see her baby (aka, the group project poster) in action. Passersby were actually genuinely interested in all our projects, and it was a very successful couple of hours. After the poster presentations, the academies joined together upstairs to watch the Aero academy’s group project presentation. Spencer also got his car back, complete with a gigantic bill!
That night, Jacob, Samira, and Kirsti worked for hours on building the dropsonde. We learned that Jacob’s new knife works very well for cutting through the metal part of pringles cans. The rest of the night was spent packing for the upcoming trip to Houston, TX.
Thursday, August 2nd
The day started like a normal day, and Kirsti, Brian, and Spencer ditched the lecture during lunch for a final meeting with their mentor. Immediately after work we headed off to Akron to catch our flight to Atlanta and then Houston. Many people bought Cinnabons for dinner at the airport. When we got to Houston, the extremely humid Texas night air greeted us, and we got our rental cars and headed off to the hotel. After barely being able to understand the guy at the front desk, we were welcomed in our rooms by bottled water and cookies complimentary of the hotel because we were from NASA. Everyone was exhausted, and we got to sleep right away to rest up for the big day of touring ahead.
Friday, August 3rd
Everyone awoke around 7AM on little sleep to brave the Houston heat. I cannot say how the trip to JSC was for all three cars, but for Kathleen’s it was eventful. We visited the Space Center (not NASA) and saw an actual space shuttle. When the group finally arrived at JSC, they were greeted by various Space Academy alumni. The group went on to learn about space food and how vegetarianism is the wrong choice. After that, everyone met UFC Heavy Weight Champion Dr. Kankam and got to fulfill their dreams of becoming a model. At last, the group headed for Mission Control where they saw the Space Shuttle Mission Control, the ISS Mission Control, and the mythical Apollo Mission Control. Everyone took turns being Flight Director.
Launch (lunch) time! The interns got delicious food, awesome cups, and a trip to the gift shop. After lunch, the group headed to more tours about exercise and medical issues in space. Then we all met this really cool guy named Rob Onaut. He didn’t say much, but he shook everyone’s hand. Last on the tour at JSC was a real Saturn V Rocket. We then departed JSC to see the Orion capsule. We got cool stuff and got to sit in a mockup Orion capsule. Then we went back to the hotel and right off to dinner with the alums. Dinner was delicious. Catfish were numerous, but not as numerous as the great times we had that night.
Saturday, August 4th
Jacob decided not to drive to Austin, which was sad. Everyone visited the Space Center, which had an excellent gift shop, moon rocks, a collection of space relics, and legos. Samira ate breakfast with her friend. Kathleen’s car went to a nature reserve where they found/ate Purple Passion Super American Glory Justice Collect Berries, poisonous tomatoes, grapes, oranges, and bison. The bison became best friends with Daniel. A toad defecated on Kathleen. Everyone then rushed back to the airport to just barely catch their flight. In Atlanta, people got food and we found out that wittle Spenny could not go ten weeks without seeing his mommy, who was also travelling thorough the Atlanta airport. Back to Akron, then to Cleveland, and finally our beds.
Sunday, August 5th
Project stuff got done. Some people went to church.
Jacob slept until noon. Then he climbs rocks with Reed and Daniel and some other people. Then he can’t find Harkirat. Then he can’t find keys. Then he can’t find Molly. Then he found his way home. Then everyone EXCEPT THE WEAK watched Curiosity land. Then GREAT SUCCESS! Then Molly died and became a zombie.
The End.