Jan.

26, 2005

Dryden Flight Research Center

P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661/276-3449
FAX 661/276-3566

Roberta Ross
Dryden Flight Research Center
661/276-3143
Roberta.Ross@dfrc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 05-04

VIETNAMESE IMMIGRANT'S DREAMS FIND REALITY AS A NASA

AEROSPACE ENGINEER

Conducting mock dogfights with neighborhood friends on bicycles as the

children pretended they were flying jet fighters was one of Trong
Bui's memories from his childhood in Vietnam.

Today, Bui has realized his dreams of a career in aviation as an

aerospace engineer at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards
Air Force Base, Calif.

Image Right: Scott Bartel of Blacksky Corp. and Trong Bui, principal
investigator for the aerospace rocket experiment at NASA Dryden,
install the rocket data acquisition system into the first of two
solid-fueled aerospike research rockets flown in March 2004. NASA
photo EC04-0113-40, by Tom Tschida

"I was always interested in fighter jets, and dreamed of becoming a

fighter pilot some day," said Bui, who grew up during the Vietnam War
era as well as the Arab-Israeli conflicts of the 1960's. "I was very
proud that I was always the first kid who correctly identified the
jets that flew over our neighborhood, either by sight or sound."

He read as much as he could about airplanes, and was a big fan of the
French comic book series "Tanguy et Laverdure" and" Buck Danny,
"which told fictional stories of the adventures of French and
American fighter pilots.

Born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam until he was 14, Bui and his family
escaped to Thailand by small boat in 1979, four years after the
Vietnam War concluded. Sponsored by his aunt and uncle in Sacramento,
Calif., they left a Thai refugee camp for the United States four
months later.

Bui never forgot his dream of becoming a pilot. But after being
rejected twice for pilot training by the Air Force, first due to
disqualification of his green-card permanent resident status, second
due to his eyesight, Bui decided to study aeronautical engineering so
that he could still work with airplanes.

While working on his master's dissertation project as a graduate

research assistant at NASA Ames Research Center in 1988, Bui became
interested in working for NASA. He worked in the Unitary Wind Tunnel
Complex at NASA Ames, where he was assigned to work wind tunnel wall
interference issues for the 11-foot transonic wind tunnel.

"I simply fell in love with the technical research work that was
conducted there, both in the wind tunnels and in the massive
computational facility that NASA Ames had," Bui recalled.

After obtaining his masters degree in 1990, he accepted a position at

NASA's Glenn Research Center (then Lewis Research Center) in
Cleveland, Ohio. At Glenn, he was assigned to the Inlets, Ducts, and
Nozzles Flow Physics Branch of the Internal Fluid Mechanics Division
working on the Proteus Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code.

In 1997, Bui transferred to NASA Dryden where he was involved with the
F-15 Advanced Control Technology for Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE)
thrust vectoring nozzles project, the X-43A skin friction experiment
and the High Speed Instrumentation Test project that was intended to
collect data for a scramjet flowpath in flight at Mach 6. He also
worked on the Russian CIAM (Central Institute of Aviation Motors)
scramjet flight experiment, in which NASA collaborated with the
Russian agency to obtain flight data for a Mach 6.5 scramjet mounted
on the nose of a rocket.

Now working in the Propulsion and Performance Branch of Dryden's

Research Engineering Directorate, Bui was recently involved in the
Dryden Aerospike Rocket Test, which he deems a highlight of his
career. NASA, the Air Force Flight Test Center, Blacksky Corp., and
Cesaroni Technology Inc., joined forces to become the first known
team to fly a rocket with an aerospike nozzle to transonic speeds.

Bui explained: "To me there is no comparable experience to design,

ground test, and then finally watch your work take off with lots of
noise and smoke, screaming straight as an arrow into the sky, and
punching a hole into that wide clear blue sky at supersonic speeds,"
he observed.

"All of the advances and rewards that we now have in the air travel,
defense, and the space industry were drawn from the pool of knowledge
that prior aerospace researchers (both from inside and outside of
NASA) have created through all their hard work and sacrifice," Bui
added.

Bui earned bachelor's and master's degrees in aeronautical engineering

from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo and a
doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University in
Palo Alto, Calif.

When not working complex aerospace engineering projects at NASA

Dryden, Bui enjoys reading, listening to classical music and
rollerblading at the beach, and especially spending time with his
wife and three-year old daughter.

Publication-quality photos to support this release are available for

downloading at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/trong_bui.html.

Media representatives interested in interviewing Trong Bui should

contact Roberta Ross at 661/276-3143 or NASA Dryden public affairs at
661/276-3449.

For further information about the Aerospike Rocket Test research

program, log on to:
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/aerospike_rocket.html

For more information about NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, log on
to: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden

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