Fan Spotlight: Flight Commander

For today’s spotlight, I’ve asked a very interesting Wing Commander fan to tell us about himself. Eddie Benowitz writes software for fun and for work: he’s the mind behind Flight Commander, a fan game styled after Wing Commander Prophecy… and part of the NASA team responsible for programming the Curiosity rover!

I’ve had a lifelong love of learning, trying to figure out of thing work. Especially when it comes to computers. Add to that an optimism and hope for the future. Growing up, I never turned down a chance to play on our PC, read about the periodic table, or play with a space shuttle toy.

Wing Commander , with its adventures in space, meshed well with my interests in computers and sci-fi. With compelling characters, and a larger-scale plot that was affected by your local actions, the game drew in my friends and myself.

As I got to high school, I had my first taste of computer programming, and knew that software development was the perfect career path for me. I was accepted to the UCLA computer science department, and dove head-first into C++. Fast forward to junior year at UCLA in our computer graphics class. For our open-ended final project, we decided to make a space combat game inspired by Wing Commander. Trying to understand what it would take to make such a game was an amazing experience. The joy of discovery was there at every moment. Although our scope was limited, we moved from a blank screen to ships flying around in a field of stars. It was a project I couldn’t let go of, and I’ve continued to work on it now and again.

Today, my love of computers and learning continues. I’m now a flight software developer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where I’ve been happily writing software for 10 years. I’ve had the privilege of writing flight software running on our Curiosity Mars rover. We had two great moments of suspense. On launch day, we watched the rocket lift our hard work off of earth and into space. The second moment of truth was landing day. With the eyes of the world watching, there was no room for software errors. For me, it’s been a long journey; from playing space combat games on a computer to writing software that’s running on Mars. But there’s always so much more to learn, and more to explore.

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Remember to submit your questions for Chris Roberts!

Für das heutige Rampenlicht habe ich einen sehr interessanten Wing Commander Fan gebeten, uns von sich zu erzählen. Eddie Benowitz schreibt Software für Spaß und Arbeit: Er ist der Kopf hinter Flight Commander, einem Fanspiel, das nach Wing Commander Prophecy gestaltet ist.... und Teil des NASA-Teams, das für die Programmierung des Curiosity Rovers verantwortlich ist!

Ich hatte eine lebenslange Liebe zum Lernen und versuchte, aus der Sache herauszukommen. Vor allem, wenn es um Computer geht. Dazu kommt ein Optimismus und Hoffnung für die Zukunft. Als ich aufwuchs, lehnte ich nie die Chance ab, auf unserem PC zu spielen, über das Periodensystem zu lesen oder mit einem Space Shuttle-Spielzeug zu spielen.

Wing Commander, mit seinen Abenteuern im Weltraum, vermischte sich gut mit meinen Interessen an Computern und Sci-Fi. Mit überzeugenden Charakteren und einer größeren Handlung, die von deinen lokalen Aktionen beeinflusst wurde, zog das Spiel meine Freunde und mich an.

Als ich zur High School kam, hatte ich meinen ersten Vorgeschmack auf Computerprogrammierung und wusste, dass Softwareentwicklung der perfekte Karriereweg für mich war. Ich wurde in die Informatikabteilung der UCLA aufgenommen und sprang kopfüber in C++. Schneller Vorstoß in das Juniorjahr an der UCLA in unserer Computergrafikklasse. Für unser offenes Abschlussprojekt haben wir uns entschieden, ein Weltraum-Kampfspiel zu entwickeln, das vom Wing Commander inspiriert ist. Der Versuch, zu verstehen, was es braucht, um ein solches Spiel zu entwickeln, war eine erstaunliche Erfahrung. Die Freude am Entdecken war in jedem Moment vorhanden. Obwohl unser Anwendungsbereich begrenzt war, wechselten wir von einem leeren Bildschirm zu Schiffen, die in einem Sternenfeld herumfliegen. Es war ein Projekt, das ich nicht loslassen konnte, und ich habe ab und zu weiter daran gearbeitet.

Heute ist meine Liebe zu Computern und Lernen ungebrochen. Ich bin jetzt Flugsoftwareentwickler für das Jet Propulsion Laboratory der NASA, wo ich seit 10 Jahren gerne Software schreibe. Ich hatte das Privileg, Flugsoftware zu schreiben, die auf unserem Curiosity Mars Rover läuft. Wir hatten zwei große Momente der Spannung. Am Tag des Starts beobachteten wir, wie die Rakete unsere harte Arbeit von der Erde ins All hob. Der zweite Moment der Wahrheit war der Landungstag. Mit den Augen der Welt, die zusahen, gab es keinen Platz für Softwarefehler. Für mich war es eine lange Reise; vom Spielen von Weltraum-Kampfspielen auf einem Computer bis zum Schreiben von Software, die auf dem Mars läuft. Aber es gibt immer so viel mehr zu lernen und zu entdecken.

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For today’s spotlight, I’ve asked a very interesting Wing Commander fan to tell us about himself. Eddie Benowitz writes software for fun and for work: he’s the mind behind Flight Commander, a fan game styled after Wing Commander Prophecy… and part of the NASA team responsible for programming the Curiosity rover!

I’ve had a lifelong love of learning, trying to figure out of thing work. Especially when it comes to computers. Add to that an optimism and hope for the future. Growing up, I never turned down a chance to play on our PC, read about the periodic table, or play with a space shuttle toy.

Wing Commander , with its adventures in space, meshed well with my interests in computers and sci-fi. With compelling characters, and a larger-scale plot that was affected by your local actions, the game drew in my friends and myself.

As I got to high school, I had my first taste of computer programming, and knew that software development was the perfect career path for me. I was accepted to the UCLA computer science department, and dove head-first into C++. Fast forward to junior year at UCLA in our computer graphics class. For our open-ended final project, we decided to make a space combat game inspired by Wing Commander. Trying to understand what it would take to make such a game was an amazing experience. The joy of discovery was there at every moment. Although our scope was limited, we moved from a blank screen to ships flying around in a field of stars. It was a project I couldn’t let go of, and I’ve continued to work on it now and again.

Today, my love of computers and learning continues. I’m now a flight software developer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where I’ve been happily writing software for 10 years. I’ve had the privilege of writing flight software running on our Curiosity Mars rover. We had two great moments of suspense. On launch day, we watched the rocket lift our hard work off of earth and into space. The second moment of truth was landing day. With the eyes of the world watching, there was no room for software errors. For me, it’s been a long journey; from playing space combat games on a computer to writing software that’s running on Mars. But there’s always so much more to learn, and more to explore.

—-

Remember to submit your questions for Chris Roberts!