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NASA starts a search for astronauts
Source: Agencies |
November 17, 2011, Thursday
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LOOKING for a job? NASA is hiring astronauts. You can even apply online at a government jobs website.
There is only one hitch - NASA no longer has a spaceship and is sending fewer people into orbit.
"The experience is well worth the wait," promised NASA flight crew operations director Janet Kavandi, as the space agency started a public search for new astronauts.
There will be flights, but not many, with the space shuttle fleet retired. A handful of astro-nauts each year are launching on a Russian Soyuz spaceship to the International Space Station for six-month stays.
In about three to five years, NASA hopes to pay for trips for astronauts headed to the space station on US-built commercial rockets.
Eventually, the space agency hopes to fly astronauts in a government-owned Orion capsule to an asteroid, or even to Mars, but those pioneering trips are more than a decade away.
With veteran astronauts leaving the agency, Kavandi said NASA is afraid it will not have enough, something a National Research Council report pointed out in September.
NASA needs about 55 astronauts, and with a new class of nine graduating this month, the roster is up to 58. One of them will fly to the space station as early as 2013, Kavandi said.
"We are ready to serve. We are ready to get going," new astronaut Serena Aunon said.
So to find candidates, NASA has begun what its personnel chief called its biggest ever push to hire new astronauts.
In the past, when NASA had a space shuttle, the space agency was inundated with applications. This new drive comes with a YouTube recruitment video complete with flashy images and techno-beat background music.
"We need you to help plan for this future of exploration," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says in the video. "Join NASA. Get your application in now for the 2013 astronaut candidate class. Your spaceflight experience begins right now."
Before you polish up your resume, NASA is not loosening its standards. You must have at least a bachelor's degree - most astronauts have a master's or a doctorate - in engineering, biological science, physical science or math.
You must learn Russian but be a US citizen. You must know basic physics. Being a medical doctor or a teacher helps. You must have vision that can be corrected to 20/20 and no high blood pressure. And you must be between 1.5 and 1.8 meters tall.
Given these requirements, NASA will probably still have 3,000 qualified applicants, Kavandi said. The job pays between US$64,700 and US$141,700 a year.
And if you are hired, you can expect to do lots of travel to foreign countries, Kavandi said. And oh yes, maybe into space.
There is only one hitch - NASA no longer has a spaceship and is sending fewer people into orbit.
"The experience is well worth the wait," promised NASA flight crew operations director Janet Kavandi, as the space agency started a public search for new astronauts.
There will be flights, but not many, with the space shuttle fleet retired. A handful of astro-nauts each year are launching on a Russian Soyuz spaceship to the International Space Station for six-month stays.
In about three to five years, NASA hopes to pay for trips for astronauts headed to the space station on US-built commercial rockets.
Eventually, the space agency hopes to fly astronauts in a government-owned Orion capsule to an asteroid, or even to Mars, but those pioneering trips are more than a decade away.
With veteran astronauts leaving the agency, Kavandi said NASA is afraid it will not have enough, something a National Research Council report pointed out in September.
NASA needs about 55 astronauts, and with a new class of nine graduating this month, the roster is up to 58. One of them will fly to the space station as early as 2013, Kavandi said.
"We are ready to serve. We are ready to get going," new astronaut Serena Aunon said.
So to find candidates, NASA has begun what its personnel chief called its biggest ever push to hire new astronauts.
In the past, when NASA had a space shuttle, the space agency was inundated with applications. This new drive comes with a YouTube recruitment video complete with flashy images and techno-beat background music.
"We need you to help plan for this future of exploration," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says in the video. "Join NASA. Get your application in now for the 2013 astronaut candidate class. Your spaceflight experience begins right now."
Before you polish up your resume, NASA is not loosening its standards. You must have at least a bachelor's degree - most astronauts have a master's or a doctorate - in engineering, biological science, physical science or math.
You must learn Russian but be a US citizen. You must know basic physics. Being a medical doctor or a teacher helps. You must have vision that can be corrected to 20/20 and no high blood pressure. And you must be between 1.5 and 1.8 meters tall.
Given these requirements, NASA will probably still have 3,000 qualified applicants, Kavandi said. The job pays between US$64,700 and US$141,700 a year.
And if you are hired, you can expect to do lots of travel to foreign countries, Kavandi said. And oh yes, maybe into space.
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