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By Jasmine Michaelson
NASA co-op and USU grad student Brandon Boone stepped up when NASA said "We need you." / Photo by Amy Fuller NASA has a pet name for Utah State University: "Utah Space University." The school earned it as a result of sending more experiments into space than any other university -- mostly the product of an outstanding engineering program. But as of 2001 NASA has found a new reason for the pet name in the form of a public relations master's student -- with absolutely no affiliation to aerospace engineering -- by the name of Brandon Boone. "I walked into this ass-backwards," he said, shaking his head and smiling. In 2001 Boone applied for the NASA Cooperative Education Program, an internship-like setup where students do paid work every other semester at the NASA Public Affairs office in Huntsville, Ala., which according to Boone is "not a fun place." "The South is another country on its own," he said. "And it's so hot down there, you can't do anything. But it's a good job." The day of his interview with NASA rep John Taylor, Boone completely "spaced it." "It was supposed to be this really professional thing and I just showed up (as soon as I remembered)," he said laughing. "The guy said, 'You're the first person to show up without a tie,' and I thought, 'Oh, crap.'" The interview began at 3 p.m. and did not end until 8. "We just kept talking," Boone said. "He actually invited me to go with him to a movie and I said, 'No, man, I've got to do my homework!'" By the end of the interview, Taylor had all but signed Boone's first check. Boone worked in the "proactive" side of the Public Affairs office. As opposed to the "incoming affairs" side of it, which handles situations such as the Challenger incident, when the media is coming to NASA, Boone's side goes out in the public in an attempt to stir up interest in the program. His most recent task was to organize a state tour in New York, involving astronauts and congressmen promoting NASA's name. The tour was supposed to happen two weeks ago during Boone's school semester, which is exactly when Boone got a call from NASA. "They apologized and said they usually wouldn't call me out of school, but then they said, 'You don't have a choice. We need you.'" A lot of the higher-ups at NASA who were scheduled to go on the tour had been called to duty in Iraq and since Boone had put it all together, that put him next in line. He flew to New York the next day. For six days he led the way for astronauts and congressmen as they attended science fairs and high schools attempting to educate the students on the opportunities NASA offers. "My job was basically, in P.R. terms, to 'hold the hand' and walk these astronauts and congressmen through everything," he said. "That includes telling them when to use the bathroom, what to say, what questions they can and can't answer." Through the course of the tour, Boone got to be good friends with an astronaut named Leland Melvin, who decided that at a high school assembly he would be speaking he wanted to give the kids an idea of other career ops at NASA. So he asked Boone to say a few words. "I did this impromptu thing," Boone said, "and it worked really well." In situations like that, Boone said, the main goal is to plant a strong seed in two to five kids. "We just want to turn on the lights for them," he said. Mission accomplished. "We had about that many come up to us afterward, and they would not stop asking questions," Boone said. "And they were good questions." Now that Boone's NASA co-op is almost over, he's starting to think about what's next. He may stick with NASA, he may not, but one thing's for sure. He's not staying in Huntsville.
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