Sabrina Thompson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sabrina Thompson
|
|
|---|---|
Thompson with a CubeSat camera, 2017
|
|
| Born |
Sabrina Nicole Thompson
April 9, 1985 |
| Education |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (2010–present) |
Sabrina Nicole Thompson, born on April 9, 1985, is an amazing American aerospace engineer. She works at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. There, she helps design the paths that spacecraft follow in space. Sabrina also started her own fashion brand called Girl in Space Club. This brand creates cool clothing, including special suits for female astronauts.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Sabrina Nicole Thompson was born in Roosevelt, New York. She grew up there and went to school from pre-kindergarten through high school. Her parents and grandmother taught her to believe she could do anything.
In high school, Sabrina played on the varsity basketball team. She loved sports and wanted to be an artist or a basketball player. She didn't even know what an engineer was until her last year of high school. Her art teacher saw that she was great at math and science. The teacher suggested she study engineering in college.
Sabrina graduated from high school in 2003 as one of the top students. She chose to study mechanical engineering at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. During her college years, she had summer jobs at different places. These included American Honda Motor Co. and Brookhaven National Laboratory.
After college, she went to the Georgia Institute of Technology. There, she earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering. During this time, she also worked as an intern at NASA Glenn Research Center.
Career at NASA
In 2010, Sabrina Thompson started working at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This center is in Greenbelt, Maryland. She first worked as a safety engineer. Later, she moved to the Navigation and Mission Design Branch.
In this new role, she became a Navigation & Mission Design Engineer. She worked on important tasks like:
- Designing paths for spacecraft.
- Studying how satellites move.
- Working with CubeSats, which are tiny satellites.
- Researching how CubeSats could explore deep space.
Sabrina also continued her education. She earned another graduate degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Since 2017, she has been working on her PhD in atmospheric physics there.
Exciting Space Projects
Sabrina worked on a special CubeSat called HARP. This satellite launched from the International Space Station in 2020. HARP helps scientists learn about Earth's atmosphere. A newer version, HARP2, will launch soon on another NASA satellite.
She has also been working on "swarms" of small satellites. These tiny satellites can talk to each other. They can collect information about weather patterns from many different places at once. This helps scientists understand our weather better.
Inspiring the Next Generation
Sabrina loves to share her passion for science. She often talks to students at schools and colleges. She speaks during special events like Black History Month and Engineers Week. She also helps NASA find new talent at colleges. Her goal is to get more young people interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Sabrina has even applied to the NASA astronaut program two times. She plans to try again in 2024. This shows her dream of traveling to space!
Girl in Space Club
In 2018, Sabrina started her own fashion brand called Girl in Space Club. She wanted to make STEM topics "fun and fashionable." She felt like her creative side needed an outlet, even though she loved her job at NASA.
Her brand started making money in 2020. They sell items like jean jackets, T-shirts, and cool digital prints.
Designing Space Suits
In 2022, Girl in Space Club became famous for its special projects. They are designing a flight suit and a pressurized space suit for female astronauts. Sabrina said the space suit is still in the "research and design phase." She is looking for partners and money to help make these suits a reality. She hopes to sell the flight suit for about $600.
Girl in Space Club also holds workshops for young people in Baltimore. These workshops combine STEM topics with fashion. It's a fun way to learn about science and design at the same time!
Images for kids
-
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver (left), astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson (center), and Sabrina Thompson speaking at NASA Headquarters for Women's History Month, 2011
_DVIDS723324.jpg)
