[ Tish/NASAChatHost - 32 - 11:02:29 ] Good Morning- We are ready to begin our chat with Fanny Zuniga. This chat will allow participants the opportunity to dialogue in Spanish and English. If you ask a question in English Fanny will answer in English. If you ask a question in Spanish Fanny will answer in Spanish.
[ Tish/NASAChatHost - 33 - 11:02:48 ] Okay Fanny, I see you're here so let's begin.
[ FannyZuniga - 36 - 11:04:37 ] RE: [none] How old were you when you first wanted to be an astronaut? I remember being two years old and being fascinated by the Apollo program back in the late '60s. It really caught my imagination and ever since then it's all I've been dreaming about.
[ FannyZuniga - 37 - 11:06:23 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] What has been your favorite project? My favorite project has to be when I worked on the space shuttle. I worked on a team that improved the approach and landing characteristics of the shuttle. One of our accomplishments was adding a chute to the shuttle when it lands.
[ FannyZuniga - 40 - 11:11:57 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] What high school classes should I take if I want to work for NASA? Well, NASA has a variety of job opportunities. There are all types of engineers and scientists at NASA. If you're interested in joing NASA, you should take all the math and science classes available at your high school, especially calculus and physics.
[ FannyZuniga - 41 - 11:13:39 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] What are you working on now? I currently am working on a High-Speed Civil Transport project. That's a new supersonic commercial airliner that NASA is developing. I work on the development of the takeoff and landing characteristics of this airplane.
[ FannyZuniga - 44 - 11:18:44 ] RE: [none] What is your favorite planet? I don't really have a favorite planet. I like to study about all the planets. But I guess lately I've been particularly interested in Mars since that will probably be the first planet we visit.
[ FannyZuniga - 45 - 11:21:31 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] What struggle did you have to work on at NASA? When I first arrived at NASA, my biggest struggle was trying to understand everything that was going on. It seemed very complicated at first to me to understand all the different tests and what was being learned from the tests and experiments.
[ none - 51 - 11:25:13 ] What is your favorite thing about working at NASA?
[ FannyZuniga - 52 - 11:26:36 ] RE: [none] Do you think in 50 years humans will be able to reach speeds up to 100,000 miles per hour in space? Well, the shuttle flies at about 18,000 mph and I don't think we'll be flying much faster than that in the near future. We are also limited by Einstein's theory of relativity that says we cannot fly faster than the speed of light so I don't think we'll be flying that fast in the near future, but you never know we might make some revolutionizing discovery in the next 50 years.
[ FannyZuniga - 53 - 11:27:58 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] How long does a person need to go to college to work at NASA? You only need a bachelor's degree to apply at NASA. I started at NASA right after I finished my bachelor's degree. And normally a bachelor's degree takes about four years.
[ FannyZuniga - 55 - 11:32:00 ] RE: [none] I have the same dream as you. I am trying for a scholarship in space camp. Do you have any advice? My advice to you is to work hard and never give up. When I was young and in school, I never thought I could possibly ever work at NASA and be an astronaut some day. Everyone around me told me the same thing. You just need to believe in yourself and keep trying. Your main job right now is to work hard at school and get good grades.
[ FannyZuniga - 56 - 11:34:49 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] By the year 2000, do you think we will be traveling at the speed of light? Since the year 2000 is only two years away, we definitely shouldn't be flying at the speed of light by then.
[ FannyZuniga - 57 - 11:36:46 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] What kinds of tests do astronauts candidates need to pass? When I was an Astronaut Candidate last year, I had to pass all kinds of physical, psychological and health tests. Basically, they want to make sure you are very healthy, are in good shape and are of sound mind.
[ FannyZuniga - 60 - 11:39:36 ] RE: [none] What is your favorite thing about working at NASA? My favorite thing about working at NASA is having the opportunity to do research and science for my country.
[ FannyZuniga - 61 - 11:40:33 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] Do you believe in area 51 where they check out UFOs? No.
[ FannyZuniga - 65 - 11:42:03 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] How many women work for NASA? There is definitely a smaller percentage of women than men working at NASA. I would guess that 10% of the engineers and scientists are women. We definitely need more women.
[ FannyZuniga - 66 - 11:44:24 ] RE: [none] If you could change one planet and make it habitable to humans, which planet would it be? I guess I would pick Mars since it's the nearest planet to us. It would be neat to travel there and colonize this planet. I think someday we will do this.
[ FannyZuniga - 67 - 11:45:59 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] Is it difficult for you having to travel to all the space centers? No, it's not very difficult to travel to the different space centers. I don't do it too often. It does get tiresome to travel back and forth the country if you do it too often, though.
[ FannyZuniga - 68 - 11:48:25 ] RE: [none] Do you believe there's life on other planets? Although there isn't any scientific evidence yet that there is life on other planets, some statistical analysis shows that it is definitely probable that life should exist elsewhere in our universe besides our own planet. My gut instinct says that there probably is. I hope someday we will be able to prove this.
[ none - 72 - 11:48:55 ] What do you think is the fastest humans will be able to travel in the next 50 years?
[ FannyZuniga - 74 - 11:51:35 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] What type of vision do you need to be an astronaut? For a mission specialist, you need to have 20/35 corrected and at least 20/150 uncorrected. The limits are a lot tougher on pilot astronauts. I don't remember those offhand since I was trying out for mission specialist.
[ FannyZuniga - 75 - 11:53:35 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] Is your job usually a struggle? No. I've been working at NASA for about 9+ years now and I'm very comfortable here. It's like my home. I like everyone here and I like what I do. I'm really happy working here. Some days can be stressful of course but overall it's usually fun to work here.
[ FannyZuniga - 76 - 11:55:19 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] Have you discovered any evidence of a new galaxy? I don't work in the astrophysics group so I'm not too sure about the new galaxies being discovered. I have read awhile ago about a couple being discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope but I couldn't give you any more detail than that.
[ FannyZuniga - 77 - 11:56:23 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] How many hours do you work a day? I usually work between 8 to 10 hours a day. Sometimes I work on the weekends, too. It depends if I'm really busy at work or not.
[ FannyZuniga - 83 - 12:00:14 ] RE: [none] What do you think is the fastest humans will be able to travel in the next 50 years? I don't know how much faster we will be flying. I just hope we'll be venturing out farther to visit new planets. The speed at which we decide to travel is pretty much dictated by the celestial mechanics of the orbit. I think what's more important is we develop better technology to make long duration travel more practicable.
[ FannyZuniga - 84 - 12:02:13 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] When you moved to the U.S., what problems did you have at school? Actually, I was born in the US. My mother and sister were immigrants. They arrived here about two weeks before I was born. But since I was raised in a Spanish-speaking home, I had problems with the language at first in school.
[ FannyZuniga - 85 - 12:04:00 ] RE: [MAnnette/MNorthSchool] Is NASA planning any other trips to other planets? NASA has plans to return to the Moon and venture to Mars. Hopefully, we will accomplish that early next century.
