Georgetown Soars Into Space Through MBA Student’s Internship

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business made its first foray into outer space in late January, when a Georgetown pennant was carried onboard a New Shepard rocket launch 66 miles above Earth. Sending Georgetown gear into space was one perk of MBA student Hall Wang’s fall internship for Blue Origin, a spaceflight service company founded by Jeff Bezos.

Wang (MBA/MPP’19) worked on Blue Origin’s customer experience, analyzing what features and qualities were important for the company to offer customers and then how to market those opportunities. He also worked in revenue generation analysis, assessing strategic sales opportunities for Blue Origin. In addition to becoming an “Excel warrior,” Wang learned how the commercial spaceflight industry works and regularly communicated with executives and specialists in the company.

Georgetown’s MBA education was important to all parts of the internship, said Wang, but his leadership communication class was especially helpful in his interactions with senior leadership.

“I didn’t realize I’d be talking to company leaders on a weekly basis, actively communicating with them back and forth,” he said.

Wang won a lottery within the company to get the chance to send an item into space on Blue Origin’s January 23 New Shepard flight. New Shepard is Blue Origin’s reusable rocket system, which carries researchers and payloads past the edge of space. Instead of an engagement ring or a watch, which he said were other common choices for sending into space, Wang chose to commemorate his undergraduate and graduate education with a Wake Forest University sock, a Georgetown pennant, and his business card.

Despite the excitement of the rocket launch, Wang cited the mentorship he received as the highlight of his internship experience.

“I had a lot of great mentoring from my manager and from people all around,” Wang said. “The company had a family-like atmosphere.”