Crawford Alumni Center
Tech Took Us There
Tennessee Tech alumnus credits astronaut Barry Wilmore and engineering education with inspiring career in space exploration
When Blue Origin engineer Ramon Sandoval Plascencia (`18 mechanical engineering) met Tennessee Tech engineering alumnus, trustee and astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore at Tech’s solar eclipse event in 2017, Sandoval never imagined that, seven years later, he would see Wilmore launch into space while working in the industry that made it possible.
“I felt a connection with him since he also attended Tennessee Tech,” Sandoval said. “He was the first astronaut I ever met, and the day I met him, I felt like the dream of working in the space industry was not so distant nor impossible. Meeting him is even more special to me now since I get to work on rockets. And I was able to see Barry launch from Cape Canaveral, live from work, a few months ago.”
Wilmore is part of the Boeing Starliner’s maiden manned voyage to the International Space Station, which launched on June 5.
Sandoval says Blue Origin, an American aerospace manufacturer, government contractor, launch service provider and space technologies company, hopes to launch their heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle New Glenn for the first time later this year. New Glenn is named after NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth.
Sandoval credits Tech for an education and career path that led to a position at Blue Origin. And it all started at a Tech career fair, where Sandoval landed a co-op assignment at Honda in Lincoln, Ala.
“At Honda, I was able to learn many real-world work experiences and show off the engineering skills that I learned at Tech,” Sandoval said. “The co-op allowed me to gain very useful soft skills like confidence, public speaking and leadership skills.”
After his co-op assignment, Sandoval returned to Tech for his senior year and, once again, attended a Tech career fair which led to a job upon graduation.
“At the time, Volkswagen was working on a new generation of full-electric vehicles, and 100 people worldwide were needed to help support the start-up phase,” Sandoval said. “On the spot, Volkswagen offered me an interview if I was interested. I immediately said yes to the opportunity.”
After four years at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tenn., Sandoval was recruited to perform testing at the Space Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“During this time, something very special happened to me: I experienced my first-ever rocket launch from less than five miles away,” Sandoval said. “This experience completely changed my life. That is when I decided to challenge myself to design and develop rockets. Three months later, I received a call from Blue Origin. Working for Volkswagen, I could turn my head left or right and see cars that I helped develop. Now, I want to be able to turn my head up to the stars and say the same thing.”
Sandoval recalls that the day before his graduation, Tech distributed t-shirts that read “Bold,” “Fearless” and “Confident.”
“Seven years later, I see that Tech molded my character into these three things,” Sandoval said. “Each class, homework assignment and project prepared me for real-life engineering. Everything was always treated as on-the-job training. Tech challenges its students to go beyond their comfort zone. This prepares you for the real world, since nothing in the real world is within your comfort zone. Without Tech, I would never have developed the professional character nor engineering skillset needed to be successful in the next space exploration era for humanity.”
