The tremendous feats achieved by NASA, have all drawn upon the brightest, most innovative minds in design and technology. With such a remarkable history, it was no small step for student Gary Redman, when he was announced winner of NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Student Competition . Redman, in his third year of the Bachelor of Design in Industrial Design at the University of Technology, Sydney, is the first Australian to ever win this competition. As a mature-aged student, he took up the challenge by NASA to design the next generation, 21st Century, “DC-3” type aircraft, up against students across the world, most working in teams of up to eight. “I was looking for a challenge to prove to myself that what I’d learnt and my own abilities were going to cut it in the real world,” Redman says. “Being acknowledged by such a massive name as NASA has made me realise that I have what it takes and what I’ve studied is the best design and research practice for working in this field,” he says. The challenge itself involved not only the design but also the prediction by designers as to what the future would be like and what the needs of its commuters will be. “I had to investigate the future and then design an aircraft for that future. “I found there were possibilities to design an aircraft that would meet NASA's technical requirements and still have a high possibility of being environmentally responsible and able to operate in the highly restricted airspace of the future,” says Redman. As a result of his win, Gary will be flown by UTS to a NASA conference in Georgia, USA this month, to present his idea to NASA staff, industry representatives and academia.