2015 seems to be a big year for me. I lived somewhere outside my hometown for the first time ever. I just finished an internship at NASA, a place at which I've dreamed of working since I was eight years old. I walked in my college graduation ceremonies this past weekend.

So, my birthday seems an appropriate time to tell everyone that I have accepted a full-time position as an International Space Station PLUTO flight controller and I will be working on site at NASA Johnson Space Center permanently. Which also means I will be moving to Houston permanently.

Here's a link to what a PLUTO controller does:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_controller#Plug-in_Port_Utilization_Officer_.28PLUTO.29

The majority of the work is IT support for the computers and networks on the Space Station.

I start my new position the first week in June. So much to think about and do before then. But first I want to thank some people.

Thank you to Natcho, James, Liz, and everyone here in Houston for helping and supporting while I pursue one of my passions. Thank you to the NASA NA Directorate and especially the NE family - Bill Mcallister, Desiree, Bill McArthur, John, Peter, Matt, Sarah, Barbara, Larissa, Kristi, Alan, Deborah, Lori, Patrick, Helen, Chris, Mike, and Mesha.

Thank you to the entire Spring 2015 intern and co-op class. You all are great people and will have incredible careers where ever you end up (hopefully at JSC). Special thanks to Izzy, Jonathon, Andy R (no Flux), Tyler, the guy with two first names: Christopher Patrick, Ryan, Matt. Thank you for making me feel like family. I expect to see you all back so we can run the place :)

Thanks to my Sherman family for supporting me in this crazy adventure: Mikey, Robert, The Real Deal Neal, Danny D, G-Man, Slammers, Steph, Traci, Big Daddy, and D and Terry. You are the best team, and people I've ever worked with. I'm going to miss you all.

Thank you to my boys back home who've supported me: Quinn, Farley, and Egyptian Mike. You are my brothers. Family always.

Thank you to my blood brothers and sisters. Amy, Dan, Elizabeth, and Christie. Always there for me.

To my Mom who is no longer with us, thank you for teaching me to follow my dreams. I hope I'm making you proud.

To the most amazing friend anyone could ever imagine who I met while I was here: I feel like we've been friends for ages. Thank you for your help and support. You're intelligent, kind - wonderful in every way :)

Thank you to my Dad and my son. You have been more than understanding and supportive. I couldn't have done any of this without you. I love you.

It's going to be a fun ride :)

Well Week 6 of my #NASAIntern is almost half complete. I knew this experience would go WAY too fast.

Since the last post we've demoed one of the projects I've been working on and it was received well. People are already using it to gather historical Space Station telemetry data orders of magnitude quicker. To be fair the base portion of the app was accomplished by the great work of the interns that came before me. Thank you for leaving with a great base upon which to build.

Week 2 of my JSC internship has begun. The first item on my project plan is complete. I'll have to get with John to see if that's what he had in mind.

Yesterday was the big #StateOfNASA address. Administrator Bolden was at Kennedy Space Center but we watched from the Teague auditorium at JSC. The Administrator outlined all of the accomplishments of 2014 and laid out what's ahead for the Agency. I have to say it's an exciting time to be working at NASA.

Another surreal moment happened when our division director, former astronaut Bill McArthur, walked by me in the auditorium and said "Hi Flux." I was almost speechless.

I worked late again, leaving at around 19:30. I have to get in as much time as I can while I'm here :)

I was a little deficient journaling/blogging last week. I will do better this week.

I guess I'll try to write in the mornings because I was wiped out last night.

Yesterday was the first day we reported to our organizations. The first half of the day was introductions and getting settled in. Bill Mcallister showed Chris (my fellow intern) and me around the division and gave us the required fire safety drill.

After that we were shown our desks and Desiree helped us out with our computers and office supplies. She's so nice and helpful. It seems like she's always smiling (even though I've only worked with her for one day).

The interns were invited to be bi-weekly status meeting so that we could introduce ourselves. That went very smoothly and everyone in the organization is so nice and helpful.

We left the meeting and Bill took us over to the ISS Conference Center for a small surprise retirement party - with cake!

The real joy of the day was toward the end of the day when Chris (not the intern), John, and Mike were talking about all of the anomalies on Station last week. I knew about the MDM but now they were going into super technical details of what happened. Since I don't know how much detail I'm allowed to share I'll just leave it at that. Just incredible though.

I cannot believe I am getting paid to be in this environment! What a joy :)

Well I need to iron my shirt and head to work for day 2 in the office (day 3 overall).

:D

In just under one month NASA's next generation space vehicle will fly on her maiden test voyage.

Check out the "Trial by Fire" video that explains the Orion spacecraft's first test mission - Exploration Flight Test 1 or EFT-1. This launch is scheduled for 4 December 2014 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

This flight will be the first one to send a human-rated spaceflight vehicle beyond low Earth orbit in over forty years! Many people (including myself) have never seen a spacecraft designed to carry humans leave our own "backyard" of 250 miles above our planet. It's an exciting time!

In order to share the experience with as many people as possible NASA has invited 150 of their social media followers to cover the event live. I am one of the lucky ones to be able to share it with the world via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and a number of other outlets. We hope to make it feel like you're there as well.

Keep your eyes on these places to experience the excitement:

I'd like to thank NASA for this incredible opportunity to witness history and I'd like you to come along with us for the ride.

(Graphics courtesy of Aimee Crane of NASA)