Tucker Student Completes NASA Internship

Charles “Coty” Pinckney of Tucker, an undergraduate at Georgia Tech, recently completed an internship at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss.

Pinckney participated in the Undergraduate Student Research Program (USRP) as a junior aerospace engineering major. As part of the program, he conducted a research project entitled “Repurposing Test Articles at NASA for the 21st Century." 

USRP was an internship program that offered NASA research and development opportunities in engineering, science, and mathematics to give students the ultimate STEM workforce preparatory experience. USRP was one of the most highly comprehensive internship programs for undergraduates because students were able to work on practical problems with real applications in aerospace or on future NASA missions, according to a release. 

Built in the 1960s to test the huge engines for the Saturn V moon rockets, Stennis Space Center is the largest rocket engine test complex in the country. Engines and rocket stages used in the Apollo Program's lunar missions were tested at the site, as were main engines used to power Space Shuttle Program missions. Stennis is now preparing to test the engines that will power the core stage of NASA's new Space Launch System. 

Pinckney is the son of Charles and Carol Pinckney.