STATESVILLE, North Carolina USA — Mitchell Community College student Josh Calnan is getting the chance of a lifetime. The 20-year-old will intern at NASA headquarters in Hunstville, Ala., this summer.

Josh Calnan is pictured Friday in his workspace in his parents' shed with a 10-foot rocket he built. Josh has been chosen to attend a 10-week internship at NASA headquarters in Hunstville, Alabama, this summer. Photo: Regan Hill.

Calnan was one of 125 interns chosen from a pool of 1,500 applicants.

The North Iredell High School graduate will work at the Marshall Center for 10 weeks, where he will participate with the Automatic Rendezvous Docking System. His 12-intern team will test new ideas for the docking system, he said.

"I'm nervous — I don't want to screw up," he said.

The paid internship will be from June 1 to Aug. 1.

Calnan, who is working toward his associate science pre-engineering degree, said living in such a small community, he's never worked in a large-scale environment like NASA.

"I hope it opens up a lot of career opportunities and looks good on a resume," he said.

His experience in mechanics, robotics programming and electronics may have interested NASA, said his physics professor, Doug Knight.

Knight has never had a student to earn such a prestigious internship like Calnan's.

The opportunity came about when Knight received an e-mail regarding the internship and encouraged his students to apply. Calnan was the only student to show initiative and take advantage of the opportunity, Knight said.

"I figured I'd give it a shot and see what happens," Calnan said.

A month later, he had a phone interview, and several weeks after that, he was notified he had been chosen.

Knight is convinced Calnan will be leading the team by the end of the summer. He said he hopes Calnan walks away from the experience having learned a multitude of things.

"I hope it broadens his horizons and that he sees he's very good in his capabilities and he can compete with anybody," he said.

Calnan said he is motivated because he loves the design process and working with his hands.

Coming from a family of engineers, he also has experience in the field himself.

He was part of North Iredell High's team to win the pumpkin chunkin' contest for two consecutive years at the Crossroads Pumpkin Fest, and also took home a second-place prize.

Calnan said he has big plans for the future.

"I plan to dual major in civil and mechanical engineering at either UNC-Charlotte or University of Kentucky," he said.

Copyright © 2008, Statesville Record & Landmark.

04-21-2008 01:34 PM  #1
UncleVanya   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 1466	Re: A real blast: Student set for NASA internship Quote: Calnan said he has big plans for the future. I plan to dual major in civil and mechanical engineering at either UNC-Charlotte or University of Kentucky... Selfish as I am I would love to see him stay in the area and fly with us.