Three cheers for CU !
Boulder-built Kepler launches search for life
The Kepler mission is also unique in that it is teaching a new generation the ropes of aerospace engineering and science right from the level of the control room.
Matt Lenda, one of 20 CU undergraduates tasked with coordinating Kepler’s launch Friday, said he was more than a little surprised to be handed a critical role in LASP’s mission operations center.
“They didn’t tell me I was going to be the guy at the console until a couple of weeks ago,†the 22-year-old aerospace engineering student said, moments before strapping on a headset and staring into a formidable bank of computer screens in a glassed-off secure area. “This is not an internship, this is a job.â€