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Aerospace Engineers Provide Out-of-this-World Experience For Students
Canterbury Middle and Upper School students received an out-of-this-world experience today as two aerospace engineers dropped by our campus for a surprise visit.
John C. Casani is a program manager at United Launch Alliance currently working with the Artemis launch. Casani and his team are working to ensure that the Orion crew capsule has enough energy to get to the moon and meet the mission goals.
"Other than rocket launches, which are to me one of the most exciting things in my career, I enjoy talking to the next generation," said Casani. "I love helping them understand what a great career they can have in aerospace and space. And I think these kids are prime candidates...I was really impressed with how sophisticated those questions were. I can’t wait to hear where they go and what they do.”
Casani's father, John R. Casani, also joined in for the surprise visit. Casani Sr. spent more than 50 years working with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was instrumental in early launches to the moon, missions to Mars and Venus, as well as the Voyager, Cassini, and Galileo space missions.
"Other than rocket launches, which are to me one of the most exciting things in my career, I enjoy talking to the next generation," said Casani. "I love helping them understand what a great career they can have in aerospace and space. And I think these kids are prime candidates...I was really impressed with how sophisticated those questions were. I can’t wait to hear where they go and what they do.”
Casani's father, John R. Casani, also joined in for the surprise visit. Casani Sr. spent more than 50 years working with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was instrumental in early launches to the moon, missions to Mars and Venus, as well as the Voyager, Cassini, and Galileo space missions.
Students were extremely grateful for the opportunity
"Being that I am really interested in the aerospace field, reading about someone in a textbook or even a news article is one thing, but really meeting someone and learning more about them from themselves is a whole different ball game," said junior science fair participant Michaela F. '24.
Students also had the chance to produce a podcast with the Casani father and son duo. Both were in Florida for the Artemis launch and made the trip to visit friends in Southwest Florida.
Canterbury is grateful to The Linn Family for providing this out-of-this-world experience for our students as part of our "Semester in Space". The semester will wrap up with a grand finale in October where students will make contact with astronauts on the International Space Station via a ham radio they constructed themselves.
