A Mars Odyssey

As two men exited an odd-looking craft called the Eagle lunar module and set foot on the moon, 9 year old Gary Cosentino watched in awe on his television set.  The year was 1969.  While astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, became the first men to walk on the surface of the moon during Apollo 11 mission, it was an event that inspired not only Cosentino but many others, to look into a career in aerospace.  Fortunately, Cosentino had the opportunity to shake the hands of one of the legends who helped se the course of his life.  “I was watching you guys when I was 9″ Cosentino told Aldrin when the famed astronaut visited NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center recently.  “That’s why I’m here today.  If it wasn’t for you, I’d be doing something else.”  It was November of 2007.  Cosentino jumped at the opportunity to tell one of his idols everything that the series of events meant to his life.  HE is NASA’s project manager for the X-48B Blended Wing Body flight research at Dryden.  “I have always wanted to say those words to someone from that ear”, Consentino reflected.  “I’ve had the chance to meet two of them, Vance (Brand) and now Buzz.  I probably would not be there today in this field, working for NASA, if it wasn’t fro the impression they made on me in those years when I was watching every launch.”

Those impressions led Cosentino to earn an under graduate degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Arizona which he receive din 1982 followed by  a Masters from the University of Colorado two years later.  He was hired by NASA Ames Research Center near San Jose, California, as an aerospace engineer specializing in computational fluid dynamics after working for General Dynamics’ Convair division as a propulsion engineer for a short time.  he worked on various aircraft and propulsion configurations including design work on the subscale NASA 1 Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft.  In January of 1998, Cosentino transferred to NASA Dryden as project manager for the X-36 flight test project, and also was given project management responsibilities for other unmanned technology demonstration aircraft, including the Altus II and Perseus B.  He was assigned to his current role with the X-48B after 6 1/2 years leading the planning and flight test effort for the X-45A UCAV (J-UCAS).  Aldrin, now 77, had spent 3 1/2 hours touring NASA Dryden and other current projects including a spin in the Blended Wing Body simulator’s pilot’s chair.  Air Force representative gave him a tour of Air Force Flight Test Center at Edward’s Air Force Base, where he served as commander of the Air Force Test Pilot School for a yea rafter his stint as a NASA astronaut.  He was in the area being honored by the Lancaster Jet Hawks baseball team that evening during the ball club’s annual Aerospace Appreciation Night.  “It was really an honor to meet a guy like that, who did so much and definitely chartered a course for my future without ever knowing it.”  Consentino concluded.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 4:35 am and is filed under Mars News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.