What Does it Take to Get to Space?

By Andreas Pashos

What does it take to get to space? As you can imagine, there is quite a long list: a purpose, gigantic facilities, new technology, unique tools, sizable funding, a lot of math and physics, reliable spacecraft and powerful launch vehicles.

After more than 50 years, our purpose is clear again. It is time for humans to go back to the moon; and not just that, it is time for humanity’s footsteps to mark the Red Planet!

Here, in the Greater New Orleans Region, the facility is well-known: Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF), a location that has played a part in every single American manned space mission ever taken, currently building the largest and most powerful rocket ever made. Its name is the Space Launch System (SLS) and you can’t build it without the latest technology and one-of-a-kind tools that you find at MAF.

Even with limitless funding, you still wouldn’t be able to build anything successful without the final, and most important piece of the puzzle: the people.

Here, in Louisiana, as we are building the next-generation rocket, we also have to build the next-generation talent pipeline of aerospace technicians, or we wouldn’t get very far. An aerospace technician may as well be called a rocket builder, because that’s exactly what they are: the folks who do the hands-on work of building, assembling, and testing anything that travels beyond the earth’s grasp.

So we wondered: how do we get this needed workforce? The answer was to bring everyone who shared this purpose together. In 2017, the Louisiana Community and Technical College System in partnership with Louisiana Economic Development provided an $1,000,000 investment to support expanded opportunities in Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing. In November 2017, Louisiana Governor, John Bel Edwards announced this partnership with NASA & Boeing, which launched and introduced the Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Program at Nunez Community College in Chalmette, LA. The program hired its first instructor and program manager, me, in the summer of 2018, and launched in the Fall 2018 semester. It is the only program dedicated to Aerospace Manufacturing in the State of Louisiana. With this incredible partnership creating a very strong foundation, we were ready to blast off.

The Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Program at Nunez Community College provides hands-on and classroom training that allows students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully perform the tasks required of an entry-level Aerospace Manufacturing Technician and to compete in the market. It also established a paid apprenticeship with Boeing, where students can go to work at the NASA facility three days a week, while taking classes at Nunez the rest of the time. Students considered for the apprenticeship, must have successfully received their Certificate of Technical Studies, maintain their Nunez enrollment, and possess certain core competencies, such as: Teamwork, Communication, Productivity, Professional Ethics, Common Interest, and Continued Enthusiasm.

As of Spring 2023, Nunez has had more than 100 graduates finish at least the certificate program, almost half have participated in the paid apprenticeship, and now has graduates hired and working good-paying, impactful jobs all throughout the Gulf South region.

AeroAdvManuf@gmail.com