NASA comes to St. James Robotics
The Robotics Club had a special
guest speaker at their last meeting. Mr.
Mike Ferullo , a NASA Aerospace engineer, brought photos taken from the
space station to show the students how robots assist the astronauts. One club member found the photos of the
control room on the space station to be the most fascinating. Mr. Ferullo's responsibilities include
training the astronauts to use the robots in space. He explained how the robots worked, the
functions they could perform for the astronauts and how the mechanics in space
differed from those on earth. According
to Mr. Ferullo, one of the most important things they teach the astronauts is
to fix things that are broken. In
training, the engineers purposely break parts for the astronauts to fix. They are hoping by training them that way, if
something breaks on the space station, they will know what to do to fix
it. Critical thinking could save your
life on the space station.
