It Started As A Dream...
For one Yankton High School graduate, working in the space
industry was just a dream until he recently received an internship offer
from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
This past summer, Layne Droppers received the opportunity of a
lifetime when he was invited to pursue an internship at NASA’s Langley
Research Center in Virginia.
“I knew the whole time growing up that I wanted to do something
in the space industry,” said Droppers, who majors in Aerospace
Engineering at Iowa State University.
Droppers’ interest in space began at a young age. He spent a
significant amount of his time before school and during the summer
reading books about the planets. During middle school and high
school, he developed an interest for engineering and joined the Science
Olympiad.
“It was all very beneficial for me and gave me some good
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experiences before going off to college,” Droppers said.
He applied for his internship at NASA through the organizations
One Stop Shopping Initiative website.
“I submitted applications for five different opportunities at different
sites across the country,” Droppers said. “I ended up interviewing for a
couple of them, but ultimately decided on working at Langley Research
Center. It helped that I had some previous experiences that helped me
get my foot in the door.”
Droppers’ internship is focused on mission planning and
interplanetary propulsion for future Mars missions. He is working on a
computer program for NASA that will help determine optimal takeoff
times and fuel ratios for spacecraft traveling to the Red Planet.
“It was actually my top choice out of the jobs I applied for,”
Droppers said. “I was also interested in one about how to manufacture
propellant on Mars, and the other applications dealt with things like
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4vHISVOICEvNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017