I want to be an astronaut

collegehelp
Wed, 03 Aug 2005 16:23:23 +0000

Here is a link to another NASA internship program for college students. For some reason, a lot of U of West Virginia students get NASA internships. Don’t know why. The interns come from all over, including Cornell, Princeton, Stanford, etc but the colleges are diverse.
http://sip.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Here is a NASA web site about becoming an astronaut:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/outreach/jobsinfo/astronaut.html

For mission specialists and pilot astronaut candidates, the education and experience requirements are at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics.

For mission specialist applicants, three years of related, progressively responsible professional experience must follow the degree. An advanced degree is desirable and may be substituted for all or part of the experience requirement (i.e., master’s degree = 1 year of work experience, doctoral degree = 3 years of experience). Pilot astronaut applicants must also meet the following requirements prior to submitting an application:

At least 1,000 hours pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft; flight test experience is highly desirable.
Ability to pass a NASA Class I space physical, which is similar to a military or civilian Class I flight physical, and includes the following specific standards: for vision-distance visual acuity - 20/70 or better uncorrected, correctable to 20/20, each eye. For Blood Pressure-140/90 measured in a sitting position.
Height between 64 and 76 inches.
Mission specialists have similar requirements to pilot astronauts, except that the qualifying physical is a NASA Class II space physical, which is similar to a military of civilian Class II flight physical and includes the following specific standards: for vision-distance visual acuity - 20/200 or better uncorrected, correctable to 20/20, each eye. For Blood pressure-Same as for Pilots. Height requirements for mission specialists are between 58.5 and 76 inches.

Check the astronaut biographies.