- Have you ever wondered if you have what it takes to become a NASA Astronaut? The term "astronaut" derives from the Greek words meaning "space sailor," and refers to all who have been launched as crew members aboard NASA spacecraft bound for orbit and beyond. Since the inception of NASA's human space flight program, we have also maintained the term "astronaut" as the title for those selected to join the NASA corps of astronauts who make "space sailing" their career profession. The term "cosmonaut" refers to those space sailors who are members of the Russian space program.
I was inches from applying in like '01 or '02. I did a little more digging because the reality of being an astronaut isn't much like the dream.
Mary Roach has since written a spectacular book that's basically "everything you always wanted to know about being an astronaut but were afraid to ask." She's got an entire chapter on pooping in space, for example. In it, she goes into great detail about the tests, qualifications and selection processes used by Roskosmos, NASA, the ESA and JASA. Spoiler alert: it's a total grind and a fraction of a percent who qualify will actually be accepted. Of those accepted, a fraction will actually get to space. She interviewed one of the guys who did some repair on the Hubble, if I recall. He summed it up as saying that he'd spent a lifetime training for a four hour job. It was kinda stark for me; I mean, one of my mom's best friends (and my piano teacher in high school!) was this guy's sister. He'd show up at our classes pretty often growing up. Listening to him, being an astronaut was kind of like being a taxi driver. You went up into space and did stuff like, all the time. BTW - they're not hiring at the moment. Back in 2001 or so I printed out their 5-page application and even filled it out. I just never mailed it in.
I watched a bunch of interviews with astronauts on the ISS this weekend and I would LOVE to have enough money to go in to space. I think it would be well spent.
Astronaut Pilot: my only definite qualification is that I am 70 inches tall. My blood pressure may be okay? That's all I got going for me :(
Based on recent sci-fi movies, it looks like the hero is a botanist... Ellen Ripley in Avatar and Jason Borne in the new movie the Martian... I am a Botanist, I have been obsessed with space for as long as I can remember, and I am doing my PhD in a weird and foreign land (not the USA). I think I should apply at some point for something.
Well, I guess had I checked my notifications sooner, I would have known what type of scientist you are :) Looks like you're a future astronaut. I haven't even heard of The Martian. Any good?
Holy shit, the Martian is awesome! And it is all over the internet . The Author, Andy Weir, seems to have tried his best to give it away to everyone he could for free, I think he is OK with sharing it around. Dude, listen to the first 5 mins of the audiobook. Edit: let me know if the link does not work in the US or somewhere... I think it should.
The only thing I need I'm not qualified for is the pilot position. Now if only I could get my pilots license and get started on those 1.000 hours...
My only missing qualification would be the 1,000 hours of piloting experience! I don't want to be an astronaut though. When I was a kid, I'd tell my parent's, "I don't want to be an astronaut like everyone else, I want to be an astronomer. That way I don't get killed in space!"
Sadly, no. I am a statistician. Actually it's not sad. I absolutely love being a statistician! I have given some thought into reading up on some astrostatistics topics, like image processing and spatial statistics, though.
"99.3617% of the time, I absolutely love being a statistician!"
I failed the health checks when I got seriously into Space about a generation ago. I'd have needed about 2 years of hard core physical training, and then rush into a B.S. degree. So I can safely say that in my case the answer is no, I cannot be an astronaut.