Thinking back to the Apollo Moon landing is
what we're talking about.
And I do recall it pretty clearly.
I was watching it in the family room of my
house.
I was in high school at the time, watching
with my father who was very supportive of
all these things.
And thinking about the fact that at that time
I was very space-oriented.
I really was excited about it.
I was one of those high school students who
contacted NASA publicity to try to get more
information.
I really wanted to know how you could do these
things.
I also recall going out and looking up at
the Moon at that time and thinking, 'Oh my
gosh, there are humans up there.'
It was just very, very inspiring.
I truly wanted to embrace this type of work.
I didn't exactly know how to move forward,
so I recall that I had gone to my guidance
counselor to find out, 'If I want to learn
how to do this, if I want to learn how to
support humans moving in space, what do I
study?
How do I focus my college career in order
to do this?'
The guidance counselor eventually told me,
'Aerospace engineering is what you need to
do.'
So that's what I decided I would pursue.
I was never interested in being an astronaut.
I truly wanted to know how could we move out
into space.
So I pursued that route, and here we are,
many years later.
