On the 12th Aug. I’ve officially started working as a trainee with the Austrian Space Forum, OeWF, at the Spacesuit Laboratory in Innsbruck, Austria. My happiness couldn’t be measured and people were very cheerful to me since my first minutes in the Forum. I had a small tour and introduction to the working place, the suit lab, the workshop and to the 3D printer with Ms. Agniezska Sekula.

3D printed Objects of my First Week in the Austrian Space Forum. (c) OeWF (Sara Barrada)[/caption]Later on during the week, I made my first 3D print, a small support for the field camera to make it able to have a certain height. It was not that trivial to make the exact calculation, to use the 3D software and the Makerbot but it was successful at the end. Moreover, I have printed some other objects that Ms. Agniezska Sekula designed in AutoCad. Ms. Agniezka Sekula, Ms. Melissa Achorner and I were working on the PLSS (Personal Life Support System) fiberglass measuring, cutting, gluing at different point of the week. I was very excited in each time I took part of a task and of course the result were just boosting my self-confidence.

I had also the chance to control Dignity, a rover built for Mars future mission tests. I had never imagined myself controlling a rover and by that time I was sincerely amazed and self-confident. Furthermore, using the PolARES NASA STD-3000 Standard to check some data and measurements of the Austrian Space suit, was very important for my learning. Indeed, I learn much useful information, skills, and definitely being a volunteer trainee for OeWF is a life changing experience, a dream becoming true.

Report: Sara Barrada