Palmerton man tells of NASA internship experience

Editor’s note: Dakota Dailey completed an internship at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center this summer. Here is his personal account of his experiences.

Hello Readers! Allow me to introduce myself — my name is Dakota. I am a resident of Palmerton under my parents, who own a house here. I study at Penn State (University Park), holding a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and soon to hold a master’s in aerospace engineering with a minor in computational science. I was approached by my uncle David in bringing a story back to the local paper, as I have just recently completed an internship at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Fortunate as I may have been to have the opportunity to work alongside some of the greatest minds this nation has to offer, I was even more fortunate to do so during a pretty special time. As some might know, this past July marked the 50th anniversary of one of the most seminal moments in American — and world — history: The moon landing.

As one might imagine, NASA centers everywhere took part in celebrating this achievement; however, MSFC and the nearby U.S. Space and Rocket Center wanted to take the celebration a step further. Besides having events, parties and specials to commemorate Apollo 11 and humankind’s first step on the moon, they wanted something more that could really drive home the greatness and glory of it all. Something that could remind people that NASA is still freakin’ NASA — especially since we are going back to the moon real soon!

So, what did all the rocket scientists decide to do to celebrate and have a little fun? They went and tried to break a Guinness World Record, that’s what.

The record for most model rockets launched simultaneously currently stands at 4,231 rockets, launched during a European Space Agency science convention in Noordwijk, Netherlands, last summer. That’s a lot of rockets. And to everyone at the Rocket City, that’s a challenge. Enough so to make the center push to make 5,000 model rockets in response.

To prepare for this record, NASA scientists, U.S. Space and Rocket Center workers, and local volunteers alike had to spend weeks planning and coordinating to get everything set up properly (that aside from the year spent planning, certifying and sponsoring the entire event). The process alone in building all the rockets and launchpads took over a week, despite how technically simple all the components were.

The model rockets, measuring about 15 inches long, consisted primarily of cardboard and plastic. A 3-inch charge was held into the bottom of the rocket with a thin metal charge holder. The launchpads resembled a single-level wooden pallet, able to hold up to 100 rockets (which means volunteers had to set up 50 different pads!) Each one had to be wired in series to 100 individual igniters. All the pads then had to be wired together to a single launch switch, key-armed and ready to press at the end of the countdown sequence.

Even after a week of building everything, all volunteers had to meet at the launch field outside the U.S. Space and Rocket Center at 5 a.m. just to have enough time to set everything up.

So then, with all that said, how did it go? Did all 5,000 rockets even launch? You can actually see how things went with this link: https://bit.ly/2ZzKMoi.

Staying true to history, on July 16, 8:32 a.m., all parties involved moved forward with their Guinness World Record attempt. Of the 5,000 model rockets, 4,923 launched, which would beat the current record by 692. I do, unfortunately, have to stress that this is still an attempt. Guinness takes anywhere between 12 to 16 weeks after an attempted record to officially review and declare if a record has been broken. So, sometime between October and November, hopefully this record will be put into the U.S. and NASA’s hands.

This especially because the volunteers for the record were allowed to keep some of the rockets that actually flew. So, when the record finally becomes official, I would be proud to say that my family’s home of Palmerton now has at least one of the rockets that flew in celebration of a great American achievement.

Hopefully, NASA is willing to take me back in the future, as while I was working down at MSFC I was actually a part of the next lunar mission (Artemis). That way, when our next great landmarks are made through the moon on our way to Mars, I’ll be able to bring back more stories and awesome pieces of history for this wonderful town.

For those interested in reading up on the Artemis mission, please see https://www.nasa.gov/artemis and https://www.nasa.gov/specials/moon2mars/#top.