Memento from Blue Hills headed to space station
By Guest
Blue Hills Superintendent James Quaglia holds a model of the International Space Station and its custom-made box that is headed into space in 2017. (Judy Bass photo)
By Judy Bass
When NASA astronaut Scott D. Tingle goes up into the heavens aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2017, he will be traveling with a very special and unique item symbolizing his former high school, Blue Hills Regional Technical School in Canton.
Students in the school’s Engineering program, under the direction of teachers Dr. Michael Meyers and Dan Hamill, created a detailed model of the ISS using a 3-D printer. It bears the words “Blue Hills Regional Tech, Scott Tingle, Class of 1983.” Blue Hills construction students, supervised by teacher Mike Harkin, fabricated a handsome wooden box to store the model, with the letters “N-A-S-A” emblazoned across the lid mirroring the space agency’s familiar, futuristic logo.
The entire concept of making the model and container is the brainchild of Blue Hills Superintendent James P. Quaglia, who expressed pride in the fact that vocational education helped train an astronaut, as well as the current students who now have the skills to make objects like the model and box.
Back in January, Tingle, 50, from Randolph, asked the school for something to take with him on his mission that would represent Blue Hills. It’s just one additional exciting development in what has been a momentous time for the school. Blue Hills is marking a major anniversary, its 50th, in 2016; Tingle, one of its most illustrious alumni, still has fond memories of his eventful four years there.
In fact, he credits his vocational education with giving him the platform for his stellar career, which includes earning a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, being a commander in the U.S. Navy, and an astronaut since 2011.
Perhaps the most daring and potentially historic event of Tingle’s professional life will be his participation on Expeditions 53 and 54 of the ISS as the U.S. lead. He is scheduled to depart aboard Soyuz 52S in September 2017. That Russian launch system is the sole method of travel available for astronauts who must reach the ISS.
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