[Music throughout]
What do a professional basketball player and a NASA engineer have in common?
[Natasha Cloud] My name is Natasha Cloud, I play for the Washington Mystics, and I plan in the WNBA so I play basketball.
In 2019, Natasha Cloud and the Mystics won the WNBA Championship
[Nayi Castro] I'm Nayi Castro, and I work at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
And I'm currently working on OSIRIS-REx project and the MAVEN mission.
On October 20, 2020, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will attempt to sample asteroid Bennu.
How We Prepare: OSIRIS-REx and WNBA
[Mission Announcer] T-minus one minute and counting
No issues with the range, everything continues to be go
25. Status check. Go Atlas. Go Centaur. Go OSIRIS-REx
Everyone is go.
[Natasha Cloud] We knew where we wanted to be at the end of the season, we got to that point, and now it is just about finishing and believing in each other.
[Mission Announcer] 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
and lift-off of OSIRIS-REx
[Natasha Cloud] We go into every season thinking tat we're going to win a championship.
And just because we won doesn't mean that we're going to be handed a championship.
Once we go into this season, everything is erased and we're starting anew.
Countless hours of dedicated practice propelled Natasha Cloud and her teammates to victory in the 2019 WNBA Championships.
[Nayi Castro] We almost have to reset during every phase because everything has been kind of a different mini mission.
Just approach was, you know, a mission of itself
Trying to learn how to navigate around Bennu
What kind of gravity environment was at Bennu
Would we be in a very stable orbit?
Nayi Castro and her teammates have practiced flight operations at Bennu for the past two years,
bringing the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft within meters of the surface.
[Nayi Castro] But it's always really rewarding like
even when you saw the first, you know, approach picture to Bennu
It's like, oh my gosh, that's our target
[Natasha Cloud] It takes a lot of practice, a lot of hours in the gym
a lot of perfecting your craft
[Nayi Castro] So it's a constant learning process to be an engineer
being open, and knowing that there is a lot of education that you can continue to do
I feel like I learn something new every day
[Natasha Cloud] So you go into it, you have nerves, you have anxieties
obviously it is kind of do or die time,
but you just prepare as if it is any other game
[Nayi Castro] Despite all the challenges that are ongoing,
we really can lead successful operations
[Natasha Cloud] Especially for young women, there's going to be a lot of people
who tell them they can't do it
there's going to be a lot of roadblocks, if you will
and for me as a female athlete, it is important for them to see a role model
[Nayi Castro] I hope I can serve as a reminder to girls
that they should be emboldened to pursue engineering as I have.