Recent aerospace graduate, Nicolas Afanador ‘24 recently landed a job at Blue Origin, a spaceflight company working to create a sustainable future in which millions of people live and work in space.
Afanador will be working as a Structural Test Engineer in the Lunar Permanence division and was attracted to Blue Origin’s presence in the space industry and their work to bring humans back to the lunar surface. By creating reusable launch vehicles and components, Blue Origin hopes to preserve Earth by tapping into the limitless resources of space and moving damaging industries into space.
“I can’t wait to get started and help Blue Origin reach our shared goal of creating a sustainable lunar colony,” says Afanador. “Getting the opportunity to work on spacecraft is a dream come true.”
Afanador isn’t a stranger to Blue Origin, having designed mechanical and structural systems for a payload of Blue Origin’s suborbital flight payload while working as an undergraduate assistant for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He first developed his extensive research skills while working at UCF’s Exolith Lab, where he served as an undergraduate project manager for the Lunar Additive Manufacturing Project. Afanador’s work at the Exolith Lab included the development of a solar sintering stand that utilizes moon dirt to additively manufacture solid bricks and structures that can be used on the lunar surface for landing pads and roads.
“During my time at UCF, especially at the Exolith Lab, working under Dr. Dan Britt, I was able to gain experience working as a research engineer working on additive manufacturing technology for the lunar surface,” Afanador says. “This allowed me to develop my engineering skills while in my undergrad. I was also able to form good connections with industry professionals and build up my network.”
For Afanador, studying aerospace engineering was an obvious decision. His family’s extensive history at UCF paired with the school’s reputation as “Space U” and its legacy of alumni working in the space industry made UCF an ideal location to pursue his passion for aerospace.
“Growing up in Orlando, being able to watch a rocket launch from my backyard sparked my interest in space,” Afanador says. “Looking at the moon and other planets with my telescope and dreaming of becoming an astronaut all came from this.”
- Written by Kyra Martin