A trip to outer space is a long one for anyone, but Taylors Lakes’ Thomas Touma is a little bit closer after finishing an internship at NASA recently.
The 25-year-old mechatronics engineer spent three months at the famous American space agency, and visited Resurrection Primary School last week to regale 150 grade 3 and 4 pupils with tales of his experiences.
Speaking about his own experiences at NASA, as well as showing students his own asteroid, a robotic arm he built, and discussing space travel, Mr Touma had the pupils entertained throughout his hour-long presentation
“When I grew up I always wanted to contribute to the world in a way,” he explained to the group. “So I would say to all of you to believe in yourself, trust in yourself and work hard and you could do some pretty cool stuff like I have.”
Mr Touma impressed the team at NASA with his robotics knowledge when applying for the internship, however his research team over there was working on something more biological in nature.
“We were basically working on turning poop into food in space,” he said. “I was working in astro-biology, and everyone had different skills so my engineering background was helpful for that research.”
He said it was far too hard to pick a highlight, but that the experience had inspired him to continue to pursue his goals. “Anyone in engineering wants to work at NASA,” he said.
“Just being around so many interesting people, all interested in different things and wanting to learn together was such a cool experience.I’m still doing research for NASA here, and hopefully I can get back there.”
