<p>Soaring Dad, Thanks for doing the research. It is pretty much what I expected , slightly more AFA pilots and a few more USNA MS slots. You never explained why this is a ‘surprise’ to you.</p>
<p>As NASA has moved away from the NFO/non-tac air communities for mission specialists, it is more difficult to establish a data base for these candidates. However, for pilots, the requirements between services is almost identical. Since the AFA tac air base is probably four or more times greater (strictly my guess) than that of USNA grads, and the total numbers selected is almost identical, what is the lesson here? Does NASA attempt to select roughly the same from each service such that the USNA grad has a four times greater chance of being selected? Is the USNA grad, by nature of his selection and training, four times as competitive as his AFA counterpart? Either way, back to my original position on another thread, if one wishes a career in NASA, the Navy is the way to go.</p>