By Crystal Hayduk
Marielle Lenehan is on her way to Houston for a flight operations internship with NASA Pathways at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), bringing her one step closer to fulfilling her dream of being an astronaut.
A lifelong Chelsea resident and 2018 Chelsea High School (CHS) graduate, Marielle is the daughter of Peter and Chris Lenehan. She is a senior at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she majors in aerospace engineering with a concentration in astronautics; and minors in both applied mathematics and space studies.
This fall, Marielle will be working at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at JSC—the largest such facility in the world, with a 6.2-million-gallon training pool. It allows astronauts, aided by support scuba divers, to train underwater for space missions in simulated microgravity (the condition of appearing to be weightless).
The Pathways internship encompasses three distinct semesters, so she doesn’t know what projects are in her future, but she knows they’ll be exciting. “A NASA internship provides tremendous opportunities for career development, and often leads to civilian employment following graduation,” said Marielle, who expects to graduate from ERAU in December 2023.
Marielle is a self-described “passionate student of all things space-and ocean-oriented.” Since graduating from CHS, she’s embraced a variety of experiences to advance her career goals.
A member of both Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and the Society of Women Engineers, Marielle works at ERAU’s Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technologies (SUIT) Laboratory, where she is the lead researcher investigating how physical exertion of an astronaut wearing a spacesuit affects his or her ability to perform CPR.
She joined ERAU’s diving club in her first semester, even serving as president since her second semester. The SHARK (Studying Habitats and Reef Kingdoms Underwater) Club’s mission is to learn about and protect the ocean wildlife of the Florida ecosystems. So far, Marielle’s interest in marine biology and astronaut training has led her to become certified in open water, advanced open water, and rescue diving. She’s currently working on her master diver certification.
Through her work with the SHARKs, Marielle received her specialty certification in coral restoration. “We breed corals and plant them on deteriorating reefs in Key Largo,” she said.
Marielle also worked with a team of students to develop an autonomous rover that separates microplastics from beach sand.
In the summer of 2019, she studied the science of spacesuits and the history of maritime navigation in Germany and Greece. Her time there included practicing celestial navigation on a 14-day sailing adventure on the Aegean Sea. Marielle gave a presentation in Cologne, Germany on possible applications of Earth-based navigation techniques for emergency use in future manned Martian expeditions. “Navigating by the stars is becoming a lost art, but how would an astronaut on Mars get back to Earth if an emergency took out technological navigation tools?” she said.
Marielle shares her gift for helping others understand complex problems through her part-time work as a physics tutor and teaching assistant at ERAU.
Marielle already has plans for next spring, when she’ll be participating in Advanced PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) Space Academy, a four-week course for students interested in upper-atmospheric research, bioastronautics, science communication, and human space flight operations. She is eager to learn about climate change through studying the upper atmosphere and donning a spacesuit for jet flights into the upper atmosphere.
“I’d like to become a pilot, too,” she said with a smile.
It’s hard to imagine that Marielle has time for anything other than work and studying, but she considers scuba diving and sailing to be work-related fun. She also enjoys hiking and horseback riding.
Like many scientists, Marielle finds rejuvenation in the arts. A high school cellist in the symphony and a member of the Celtic group, Chelsea House Orchestra (CHO), she still plays the cello. “Music is dear to my heart,” she said. “And oil painting is a relaxing hobby.”
Marielle grew up with animals—dogs, cats, horses, and even a rabbit. Although she considered veterinary medicine for a short while, she changed course when she was in middle school. “I’ve always been interested in astronomy and space—even watching shuttle launches on the computer since I was really young.
“My dad and I would talk about things during drives to school in the mornings. When I was in sixth grade, I told him I wanted to study space. He said he’d want to be in space to study space. That was a turning point for me. I started researching more about space, science, and astronauts and decided this was it for me.”
In addition to her father’s influence, Marielle said her mother is motivating. “She always told me I can do whatever I want to do, and encouraged me to work for what I want.”
Marielle believes in taking chances on opportunities that come along because they open doors and can help people determine what they want in life. “Your dreams chose you for a reason,” she said.
