Visiting NASA’s Langley Research Center can be a life-changing experience for those who see the agency’s historic and oldest center. The opportunities to do so, however, can be few and far between.
So when NASA Administrator Bill Nelson paid a visit to the Hampton, Virginia facility, girls of a local youth chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers jumped at the chance to be there — and on Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, no less.
Four members of the local Christine Darden chapter of NSBE Jr. joined the NASA administrator, along with Langley officials, members of Congress and other honored guests, for his tour of Langley Feb. 24.
“This center is very important and it’s a legacy center because a lot of the early space flight mission happened here,” Nelson said, adding that Langley mathematicians, such as NASA legend Katherine Johnson, helped send humans to the Moon.
The center promoted its role in agency missions, projects and initiatives in Earth science, space technology and exploration, aeronautics and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) engagement.
“This is the excitement that we have,” Nelson said. “This is where the impossible is possible.”
The local NSBE Jr. members who joined the tour, Nia Williamson, Sklyar Montaque, Kimani Grady and Akiyah Joyner, marveled at the center’s historic hangar, larger-than-life fan blades at the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel, various research laboratories and even had a virtual tour of the International Space Station via Oculus VR headsets. They had a chance to pick Administrator Nelson’s brain about technologies and missions present and future as part of the tour. They even asked about his time in space during his time as an astronaut on mission STS-61-C aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
“I was excited to hear that I was going,” Kimani said. “I’ve always been interested in stuff like this.”
Kimani, an eighth-grade student at Ella Fitzgerald Middle School in Newport News, Virginia, is interested in a career in communications and this visit gave her insight into that field in relation to STEM.
Dr. Christine Darden, retired NASA Hidden Figure and the chapter’s namesake, met the students in person for the first time at the tour, as she previously had met them virtually.
“I enjoy working with young people,” she said.
Bridget Adams, youth development supervisor for Newport News Public Schools, was over the Moon, to put it lightly, about her students visiting Langley for the first time.
“We always look forward to extraordinary opportunities,” she said. “This visit exposes them to the future.”
NSBE Jr. is the main K-12 program for the National Society of Black Engineers, which provides activities to help students discover firsthand how engineering and technology relate to the world around them and discover the excitement of academic excellence, leadership, technical development and teamwork.
Kimani was told by people to join the initial NSBE Jr. group as they thought she would enjoy it. They were right, as Kimani enjoys how it makes its members feel included and heard.
The tour packed a punch for the NSBE Jr. group and gave them the inspiration to pursue careers at NASA. And though Kimani’s career interests aren’t in a technical field, the visit solidified her desire to contribute to NASA’s mission in the future.
“It definitely has,” she said.
- To view a photo gallery of the visit, click here.
Eric Gillard
NASA Langley Research Center