Through a project with educational outreach program NASA HUNCH, students at the Limestone County Career Technical Center can say they helped build parts for the International Space Station.

Three students will work with precision machining instructor Jason Emerson to build parts for the single stowage lockers used by astronauts on the space station. Emerson said they have already taken the blueprint for the parts and turned it into a program for the CNC mill that will manufacture the parts.

A metal block inserted into the machine will be milled to produce nine tiny arms that will turn and close locker doors on the back of the astronauts’ locker. To create these, students and Emerson must be very precise.

“Some of these dimensions have no tolerance to one side, and five-thousandths of an inch on the other side,” he said. “That’s the only room for error we’ve got.”

A representative from HUNCH took the school’s first attempts to a place with even more precise measuring machines to make sure they are good enough for use. Emerson said they could be manufacturing pieces to go in space as early as this week.

“We’re getting the kinks and bugs worked out now,” he said. “We’ve got a few things we’ve got to change, then it’s going to be fine.”

Ardmore High junior Hunter Lovett said working with NASA was not something he expected to do when he started the class. He wants to pursue a career in aerospace after graduation.

“It feels pretty cool,” Lovett said. “I’m just in high school, and I’m already making parts that are going to go up. Whether they’re small odds and ends or something big, it’s still going in space.”

Along with the locker parts, Emerson and his students got to sign a panel that will go into space.

“There were different little pockets milled out on it,” Emerson said. “We got to sign it, and it will go out in space. Then the astronauts will hold it up and take pictures and video of it for us.”

Emerson said the tech center worked on similar space-related projects before he started teaching there 13 years ago. He has a camera mount and swivel on display in the work area, just one of the many projects he has helped students contribute to space exploration.