Question: Katie, how did you choose between the three ambitions?

Columbus Operations answered on 17 Jun 2016:

When I was in my last year of high school and preparing applications for university I really wasn’t sure what to pick. But I went to an open day at the University of St Andrews and fell in love with the university, the city, and the physics department there. So I decided to study physics! The decision made itself, to be honest. But the beauty of the space industry is that you can be very flexible in your career path – people from all types of backgrounds contribute to the human spaceflight program. Engineers, doctors, scientists, lawyers, architects, writers, graphic designers…it’s a real team effort. So no matter what your career goals are, there’s a really big chance you can find a place in the space industry.

And as far as the writing goes…I still love reading in my spare time and am working on some writing. It’s very important to me that life doesn’t become 100% focused on work/engineering. It’s vital to have a good work-life balance and it’s a real pleasure to come home after a tough day as an engineer, pick up a novel, and escape on an adventure to some far away land for a few hours 🙂