LINDSAY AITCHISON

Where do you live? Clearlake City, TX

Where did you go to school? B.S., Purdue University (2006)

What did you study? Mechanical Engineering

What courses prepared you for your job? Statics, Heat Transfer, Statistics, and Machine Design

What do you do for work? I work in the Spacesuit Systems Branch of the Crew and Thermal Systems Division at NASA Johnson Space Center. I am a Project Engineer for the Constellation Space Suit Element Pressure Garment team, which means I get to help determine what the next generation of space suits will look like for the long term exploration of the moon and Mars. A typical workday for me involves meetings with contractor teams who are conducting studies on how to design advanced space suit components and doing testing with our current collection of flight ready and prototype space suits to determine functional requirements for our new space suit system.

What do you do for fun? I like to run (I have run the Chicago Marathon and am training for the Marine Corps Marathon) and read.

Why do you work at NASA? I believe that space exploration is the greatest adventure in which humankind will ever embark. Working for NASA lets me participate in the challenges of the journey and help pave the way for future discoveries.

How did you get your job here? While at Purdue University, I participated in the Cooperative (or co-op) Education program. This program allows students to alternate semesters of work and school, so they are able to apply what they learned in school to a job, gain valuable work experience, and lay a foundation for obtaining a permanent position after graduating. As a NASA co-op student I was able to work in several different areas of the human spaceflight program such as flight control, Shuttle GN&C software development, space suit life support, and space suit pressure garments. When I graduated, I transitioned from co-op to full-time status in the space suits group.

What is your role in Desert RATS? I am the space suit engineer for the Rear-Entry I-suit (REI suit). It is my job to make sure the REI suit and my EV1 subject are ready to go each morning and that both stay ‘healthy’ throughout the suited tests.

Why is your job important? I keep our subject and suit happy and functioning so that test objectives can be met.

What do you like about your job? Participating in field testing. Every test is different and sometimes challenges us to make important decisions on the fly.

Why do you think Desert RATS is important? From my perspective, I cannot think of a better way to train new suit engineers than through hands on training and testing. If you’re going to be designing the next fleet of space suits, you need real experience with the mechanics of different suit designs and how they function and fail.

Any advice for the students? Take your time figuring out what it is that really sparks your interest before just blindly picking a course of study. Feel free to try everything until you find the thing that suits you best.