Heading into Ellington for the last time, we were greeted by a cloudy sunrise, a good omen on the day. Mallory and Ryan are set to collect the rest of the data for Boise State's experiment, while Kyle (our alternate flier) will be assisting the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in conducting a study of the flow of lunar soil simulant through a hopper.
All fliers are issued flight suits and NASA name badges, and some have a hard time resisting the urge to go a little Top Gun. The team rented the classic last night, singing and quoting along and staring gape-mouthed at the jet engines (despite having seen them millions of times). Some things just never get old.
Mallory is a lot of things, a ball of pure energy being one of them. She also is an inspiration to young women who may be thinking about studying engineering. She has not skipped a beat with any of her male counterparts on the team, most of them several years older and a lot more experienced when it comes to research. She is about to fly, and I have a feeling she will produce some impressive pictures of what is possible when a human is lighter than air. Somehow, it seems like her natural state.
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