Local students make parts to be used on International Space Station: 'Pretty cool feeling'

PERKASIE, Pa. - A group of students at a small Pennsylvania high school are making an astronomical contribution in the field of space aviation. 

Six students at Upper Bucks County Technical School participating in NASA's Hunch Program were tasked with assembling a ‘Tang' used to deploy cube satellites.

Palisades High School Student Everette Cupak described their Tang as a "small tab that has a hole in it," but its utility for astronauts is far greater than meets the eye.

"Sometimes in machining you're not told everything about what it is or what it's going to do, you're more or less given a blueprint and told to make it," Cupak said.

With NASA officials watching, the students signed their names on the locker top of the CubeSat devices they manufactured, which will be used on the International Space Station.

"To think about my name is going up to the International Space Station is awe-inspiring I don’t think it quite hit me until I was actually signing it like the importance of oh wow my name is going up there," Cupak said. 

NASA Hunch Program Implementation Project Manager Florence Gold said she's "proud and amazed" that the students completed the challenging task on their first try.

NASA officials say there is not an exact timeline of when the class's Tang will be used, but they will notify the school when it is.