MACON, Ga. — History was made on Thursday as NASA's Perseverance Rover landed on Mars.
Breanna Ivey is an Engineering major at Georgia Tech and got to intern with NASA last summer.
"Perseverance is the first step in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and their mission to bring samples back from Mars. This will be the first time that we've ever tried to do that. This is the first step. This rover has the capability to drill holes in the surface and samples and save them for the next mission," Ivey said.
Ivey played a key role in the missions success.
"My job was to check all the math concerning where the rover had to travel, so all the distances, all the angles, anything concerning where the rover has to go, basically, I had to make sure the brain of the rover was doing the right math," Ivey said.
That's how she spent her entire summer internship.
Ivey says this experience has prepared her for anything else she pursues in the future.
"This experience is teaching me that not even sky is the limit," she said.
She says she hopes her experience teaches younger Black girls who look like her the same thing.
"I would tell them, if they're interested in STEM to always trust their process and their journey and to know that they have all of the tools to overcome any obstacle that they encounter, and to also know that they belong in any space that they step foot in, any room, any table that they sit at, they belong there." Ivey said.
Ivey calls it the opportunity of a lifetime, and says she is grateful to be part of history.