Sense of accomplishment

(I hope this post makes sense.....had alot going on, so forgive me if it seems random)

So if you were reading my previous posts, I had taken a trip out to California to support one of the launch campaigns for my company. It was for the Worldview 1 satellite that we have been working on for quite a few years. Worldview actually launched on Sept. 18th @ 12:35 pm MDT. As I sat in one of our auditoriums at work with my friends and everyone else, I couldn't help but feel pretty damn proud and also amazed as the Delta II rocketed towards space.

As an intern here, I had the chance to participate in Integration & Testing for Worldview II. The brilliance of this spacecraft was alot to take in while it sat 10 feet away in the cleanroom during testing. I had a chance to work with the Attitude Determination & Controls System extensively and it increased my overall knowledge of the satellite system as a whole. While I watched Worldview being carried into space, it hit me that I had actually helped with the testing of this "Next Generational Digital Imaging" Spacecraft. That all the work I had done previously now made sense and that the work I had done (though insignificant compared to other engineers) was still a part in the success of this preliminary part of its mission.

I say preliminary because getting it to space is the first step. If you can't communicate with the damn thing, then the whole project goes to shit. And we were communicating with it about 1 hours and 42 minutes after launch, so all was going well.

Everything I had done up until that point, the testing, the long days and nights, the writing of code and test procedures that just seemed to go on and on, the staying up from 12 am - 9 am every day for 3 weeks out in Vandenburg while the Battery went through its autonomous conditioning cycle, EVERYTHING had been worth it to see it get to intended location in a Polar Orbit over earth. It was all worth it and I've been working with or alongside others who were working on it since my first internship here in 2004 and now to graduate from college and be sent out to a launch site (which is incredibly rare for someone with my limited experience and position), well that was an amazing opportunity. I felt as if I had watched the entire project from beginning to end and it felt pretty good, even if I didn't as much to do with it compared to others.

I know that my day will come though. I also got an award for my 1 year anniversary of cumulative service here at Ball which isn't that big of deal but nice that they recognized it.

Anyways, now its time to focus on the next project - Worldview II. This is going to be just like the first one, but much larger and with the same resolution (.5 meter) but bigger camera. For this one, I'll be working on the Electrical Power & Distribution System along with the Thermal & Electro-Mechanical Subsystem. I'm not exactly sure what all that entails, but that's what I'm currently learning. This satellite is expected to launch in Winter of 2009 and this time, I'll be in Vandenburg for the entire 3 months preparation up until the actual day of launch.

If I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment after Worldview I, I can't even imagine what I'm going to feel after we launch Worldview II. I'll also have the cool jacket, polo, bag, shirt, pin, and everything else to match with the WV II logo on it.

Being that close to a launch was definitely the coolest things I've ever been able to experience. I felt more pride and learned more from my work on that project and from my current project on WV II, than i've ever learned or had in school. One thing I'm learning is that school, Michigan especially, teaches you how to multi-task and handle stress and different jobs at once. The types of things I've learned in Vandenberg and on the job and that my leads and co-workers have taught me, can't be mimicked or learned in a classroom. Am I saying that college is worthless? Absolutely not. It does give you the knowledge to succeed in your field of study, however, the real experiences you gain and learn from can only be acquired from the stuff you actually have to face day-to-day in the Real World. From there, the real accomplishment will come from knowing that what you've gone through and experienced hasn't been in vain but yet is a stepping stone or building block to the next level of your life.

If you would like to view the launch of our spacecraft or view pictures of it while in Vandenberg getting ready for launch, you can go to the link below. I will be posting pictures from colorado and other travels next week as well.

http://www.digitalglobe.com/worldview-1_launch.html