What will aerospace engineers be doing ten years from now?
I think that in ten years there’ll be a serious effort in the U.S. to send people beyond the Space Station, to the moon again and then onward to Mars. What’s the next step on your career path? I’m going to do whatever I can to see that robotic missions lead humans back to the moon and on to Mars. What advice do you have for students entering high school? Do something that challenges you and makes you happy; the money’ll show up. And learn to be a good team player. Listening is very important. You have to “surrender ideas”–be willing to share the credit for an idea and accept that there are other people out there with good ideas, too. You also have to respect differences. Smart people contribute in different ways, for example. Some people have good ideas daily; others have brilliant ideas annually. You need both kinds. What are your daily tasks and decisions? There is no “typical” day. I have to decide which jobs get priority on a moment-by-moment basis. What’s the part you like least
