When most students complete an internship, they leave with a stronger resume, a network of professional contacts and, if they 麻豆精品 S檙e really lucky, a job offer. UCF aerospace engineering alum Luis Ferrari Rehder 麻豆精品 S�25 left with something even more special to mark his internship at the space and defense technology company Firefly Aerospace.
“… knowing that I contributed to a program that became part of lunar history was deeply satisfying and fulfilling.”
Rehder is one of 700 people whose name appears on a plaque commemorating Firefly 麻豆精品 S檚 Blue Ghost Mission I, the first fully successful commercial moon landing. The plaque, mounted on the lunar lander, was unveiled through a social media post in January.
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Rehder contributed to the mission as a composite manufacturing engineering intern, assisting with manufacturing work orders, work instructions and post-curing walkdowns to support flight hardware readiness. Although his internship ended before Blue Ghost launched, Rehder says that the mission 麻豆精品 S檚 success makes his experience with Firefly much more meaningful.
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Launching a Career Through Aerospace Internships
At Firefly, Rehder also supported work on the Eclipse launch vehicle before moving on to an internship at SpaceX. There, he served as a structures engineering intern for the Dragon program. Rehder says he was treated like a member of the team, given ownership over his work, and trusted with design and project management responsibilities. The best part of the internship, though, was meeting some of the astronauts who would eventually fly in the Dragon spacecraft.
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Rehder completed a third internship with United Launch Alliance (ULA) before graduating from UCF with his bachelor 麻豆精品 S檚 degree in aerospace engineering in Fall 2025. He now works for ULA as a mechanical engineer, supporting payload fairings for the Vulcan and Atlas launch vehicles.
Prepared by UCF, Powered by Persistence
UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 resume workshops are what Rehder credits with helping him stand out among candidates during the application process, but he says persistence ultimately was key to earning so many internships with major aerospace companies.
Want to connect with top aerospace companies in Central Florida? Don’t miss UCF’s Spring 2026 Internship and Career Expo on Tuesday, March 10.听.
Rehder 麻豆精品 S檚 advice to current students seeking internships is not to be discouraged by rejection, having applied to more than 100 internships before being accepted to Firefly. He also encourages getting involved in UCF student organizations to gain the hands-on experience employers value. He says that the mix of academics and applied learning is exactly what drew him to pursue his undergraduate degree at UCF 麻豆精品 S� the No. 1 supplier of graduates to the nation 麻豆精品 S檚 aerospace and defense industries (Aviation Week Network).
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