As a child, 2020 Georgia Tech Astronaut Scholar Andrew Galassi dreamed of becoming a locomotive engineer—until he discovered that mechanical engineers actually design trains. From that moment, he knew he wanted to become a mechanical engineer.

Receiving the Astronaut Scholar Award became an important milestone in that journey, connecting him to the legacy of the Mercury 7 astronauts and showing him that a career in STEM at the highest level was within reach.

The ASF community continued to play a role throughout his career. As a graduate student at UC Berkeley, he connected with Astronaut Scholar alumni and other members of the aerospace community, including one alumnus whose advice helped guide his decision to pursue a career at a startup.

That advice ultimately led him to Astrolab, where he now works as a Mechanical Engineer. As part of the mechanisms group, he designs the high-gain antenna gimbal pointing mechanism for the company’s new CLV lunar rover, which will help the rover and the Artemis astronauts it carries send data, images and video back to Earth.

Today, he is also passionate about mentoring the next generation of engineers and sharing the knowledge he has gained throughout his journey.

His advice to future Astronaut Scholars? Embrace history as you look toward the future.

“Being an Astronaut Scholar is a great opportunity to engage with the past, present, and future of aerospace,” he says. “I believe it’s important that the past doesn’t get lost in the excitement for the future.”