An Out Of This World Visit / Astronaut gives boost to JD Machine employees

FARR WEST -- For Myles Young and Mariah Mecham, perhaps the only thing cooler than meeting a real-life astronaut is knowing that their grandmother's job is playing a big role in making sure a new NASA rocket launches on its first test flight later this year.
"It's really awesome," said Myles, 10, when asked about his grandmother Kellie Bosgieter's job at JD Machine Corporation, a company that produces parts for the aerospace and military industries.
Bosgieter, a quality inspector at the company, brought the kids to meet astronaut Marsha S. Ivins at the company's Farr West plant on Monday. Ivins, based at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, was in Utah to greet the workers who are responsible for building about 50 machined parts for the new Ares 1-X, a test rocket whose permanent model will soon replace NASA's now 30-year-old space shuttle.
"It was great to see a real-life astronaut," Young said. "You don't see that a lot. I think people are really lucky to be here."
Many of the dozens of employees in attendance brought children to meet Ivins, who showed slides and touched on her experiences during her five missions and more than 1,300 hours in space.
Ivins said NASA's goals for space travel include returning to the moon and exploring it in a new pressurized console vehicle that would allow astronauts to see more of its surface.
"The moon could have the entire geological history of the earth right there," Ivins said, referring to the lack of erosion on the moon and how it could provide clues to how the earth was formed.
NASA later plans to send humans to Mars and wants to eventually set up space stations on both, she said.
Part of Ivins' overall message to workers was that JD Machine will play a big role in making those exploration goals real.
Before returning to Houston, Ivins took pictures and signed autographs with employees. ATK Launch Systems, which buys parts from JD Machine, organized Ivins' visit.
Workers of the small plant now say they feel they are a part of something greater.
"We definitely know our job is technical and we have to be very precise," Bosgieter said, responding to Ivins' analysis that all parts have to function in unison to ensure astronauts' safety.