Anything that is built must first be engineered, or planned out. An engineer is a person who designs and builds complex products, machines, systems, or structures. Engineers want to know how and why things work. They have scientific training that they use to make practical things. Engineers often specialize in a specific branch of engineering. The field of engineering is divided into branches such as civil, electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering. Many types of engineering must be performed to design and build a complicated system such as a spacecraft. For example, a spacecraft has electrical, mechanical, and propulsion systems. All those different systems must be designed before the whole spacecraft can work. The engineering design process is a series of steps that engineers use to guide them as they solve problems. During the design process, engineers:

• Identify the problem or challenge.
• Identify design requirements and limitations on the design due to available resources and the environment.
• Brainstorm possible solutions to the problem or challenge.
• Generate ideas and develop the most promising ones.
• Explore possibilities and the pros and cons of each.
• Select an approach by identifying the design that appears to solve the problem best.
• Build a model or prototype.
• Refine the design by identifying changes that need to be made and improving the model or prototype.

Transcript (English)

- [Mission Control] Two, one.

- [Narrator] You've probably heard the word engineering before, and you've probably been told it's pretty important, but what exactly is engineering, and who exactly is an engineer?

Engineers are people who design and build things that we use every day. However, they don't just go building the first thing that comes to mind. They work hard to make something we need, and they wanna do a good job of it.

So how do engineers decide what they need to build? Well, in most cases, they start with a question. Here's an example. Say you live on a space station and something outside breaks. Obviously, you need to go outside and fix it, but how exactly do you do that? That's a great question for engineers.

Once they've got a good handle on things, they'll start imagining ways to solve the problem. They'll come up with all kinds of ideas and some that might even seem a little crazy. That's important because sometimes the craziest idea is the one that works best.

After coming up with these ideas, they'll pick a few that make the most sense. Next, they'll start drawing a plan. Depending on the idea, the plan can be very simple or very complicated. But the important part is the plan itself. A good plan helps engineers focus on what they're making, and, most importantly, why.

Now the engineers get to have some real fun. They get to create something. It's important to stick to the plan, though, so the idea doesn't go too far off course.

Once they've built it, then they have to test it. Experimentation is very important because it's here that engineers learn what works and, well, what doesn't. And while it's great when something goes right on the first trial, it's actually good when things don't. Because that gives engineers a chance to go back and improve on their original idea. And improve they will until they've solved the problem.

So the next time you've got a problem to solve, whether simple or complicated, there's probably a team of engineers ready to create something to solve it. And nobody solves engineering problems quite like NASA.

Transcripción (Español)

- COHETE ESOPACIAL ¡LA LUNA O NADA!

- [Control de misión ] Dos, uno. INGENIERÍA

- [Narrador] Es probable que ya hayan escuchado la palabra ingeniería antes y tal vez ya les hayan dicho que es muy importante, pero ¿qué es con exactitud la ingeniería y quién es exactamente un ingeniero?

Los ingenieros son personas que diseñan y construyen cosas que usamos todos los días. Sin embargo, no solo construyen lo primero que se les ocurre. Trabajan muy arduo para hacer algo que necesitamos y lo quieren hacer muy bien.

Entonces, ¿cómo deciden los ingenieros qué necesitan construir? Bueno, en la mayoría de los casos, comienzan con una pregunta. Aquí tienen un ejemplo. Supongamos que viven en una estación espacial y algo afuera se rompe. Es obvio que necesitan salir y arreglarlo, pero ¿cómo hacen eso? Esa es una gran pregunta para los ingenieros.

PROYECTO: ESTACIÓN ESPACIAL DAÑADA

Una vez que tengan un buen control de las cosas, comenzarán a imaginar formas de resolver el problema. Se les ocurrirán todo tipo de ideas y algunas que incluso podrían parecer un poco locas. Eso es importante porque a veces la idea más loca es la que funciona mejor.

Después de idear estas ideas, elegirán algunas que tengan más sentido. Luego, comenzarán a crear un plan. Dependiendo de la idea, el plan puede ser muy simple o muy complicado. Pero la parte importante es el plan en sí. Un buen plan ayuda a los ingenieros a centrarse en lo que están haciendo, y, lo más importante, por qué.

HOGAR, DULCE HOGAR

Ahora los ingenieros pueden divertirse de verdad. Pueden crear algo. Sin embargo, es importante ceñirse al plan, para que la idea no se desvíe demasiado.

Una vez que lo han construido, tienen que probarlo. La experimentación es muy importante porque es ahí donde los ingenieros aprenden qué funciona y qué no. Aunque es genial cuando algo sale bien en el primer intento, en realidad es bueno cuando las cosas no salen bien. Porque eso les da a los ingenieros la oportunidad de volver, mejorar su idea original y mejorar hasta haber resuelto el problema.

Así, la próxima vez que tengan un problema que resolver, ya sea simple o complicado, es probable que haya un equipo de ingenieros listo para crear algo que lo solucione y nadie resuelve problemas de ingeniería como la NASA.

LOS MEJORES ESTUDIANTES DE LA NASA INGENIERÍA, CIENCIA Y TECNOLOGÍA BÁSICA CENTRO DE VUELO ESPACIAL GODDARD