Job Opening: "Frequent travel may be required"

http://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/302967000

105 50 15 years ago

mmaunder• 15 years ago

"Since all crewmembers will be expected to fly aboard the Soyuz vehicle and perform Extravehicular Activities (space walks), applicants must meet the anthropometric requirements for both the Soyuz vehicle and the extravehicular activity mobility unit (space suit). Applicants brought in for interview will be evaluated to ensure they meet the anthropometric requirements."

...or you will be charged for two seats.

georgemcbay• 15 years ago

At $50 million a seat, that starts to add up.

commieneko5• 15 years ago

It kind of pisses me off that the US is having to buy seats on Soyuz launches. Of course I grew up reading Tom Corbett and watched the first moon landing on a 12 inch black and white TV...

dennisgorelik2• 15 years ago

Apparently seats on US-made launches are more expensive.

Does it bother you buying "Made in China" stuff?

jobu• 15 years ago

I think it's fantastic for two reasons. First, it keeps the lights on for the Russian space industry (more players makes for a more interesting field). Second, I believe the next big achievements in space will likely be done by private industry. This sets a bar for the cost to get people into space. Whenever some company can safely match the price of $50mil per person we will start having some real competition.

VladRussian• 15 years ago

>It kind of pisses me off that the US is having to buy seats on Soyuz launches.

it is normal for any high tech endeavor to outsource mundane/janitorial work. Russia and US mastered this non-reuseable type of space flight decades ago. It would not make any sense for NASA to go back and implement the same system now. What would be great is if NASA used the time and money to implement a more advanced and efficient system - Shuttle was a great endeavor and its lessons need to be implemented into the new systems. And by the way, for example, while Russia ferries NASA atrounauts, Russia, or anybody else except NASA, has no ability to [successfully] send an actual Mars probe or create JWST (which impact on science and overall enlightment of the human race would possibly be bigger than even Hubble's one). So stop being pissed off and start writing the code for the mirrors alignment:)

numlocked2• 15 years ago

It's incredible how relatively sparse the application itself is. No essays, no short answers, no letters of recommendation. No prose of any kind. Simply a resume, references, an academic transcript, and a small list of "additional skills". The astronaut website talks repeatedly about focusing on candidates with high levels of academic achievement, and I guess they aren't kidding. With this application, for better or worse, that's about all they have to go on in this screening round.

artmageddon• 15 years ago

I'm surprised that they will accept a graduation degree in lieu of 1,000+ hours of pilot-in-command time in a jet aircraft. I'm a private pilot of single-engine propeller airplanes and getting my degree in CS is certainly no substitute!

I'm applying tonight.

numlocked2• 15 years ago

They have 2 paths to qualify - piloting astronauts and non-piloting. So it's not a substitute, per se.

philwelch2• 15 years ago

That's an interesting throwback to the days when all astronauts were test pilots, but it's kind of stupid nowadays, for reasons Robert Zubrin points out in his Mars Direct plan. It's simply easier to train a qualified engineer or scientist to be a pilot than it is to train a qualified pilot to be an engineer or scientist--and on any mission that's at all interesting, it's silly to waste space on an astronaut who isn't an engineer or a scientist.

_delirium• 15 years ago

I believe it qualifies you for a different job; NASA traditionally splits people into the roles that require a pilot background (Pilot, Mission Commander, etc.), and those that require scientific credentials (Mission Specialist).

nobody31415926• 15 years ago

Flight up = pro-programmed Soyuz module.

Flying = ISS is in an orbit, very little aerobatic ability

Flight down = Soyuz module pre-programmed to hit target

But NASA will swap a graduate degree in something scientific for having buzzed around pretending to shoot people in a F16/18. Perhaps they could extend this to other parts of their operation? HST staff = extensive peer-reviewed published papers, or experience with a 105mm howitzer.

metachris• 15 years ago

I read it that they are looking for jet experience specifically. Doubt that propeller machine experience is a substitute. Good luck though, I hope you make it into the interview round!

chris_gogreen• 15 years ago

"Frequent travel may be required" is not all that strange considering this is for an astronaut...

sliverstorm3• 15 years ago

It is a form of humor on the part of the HN submitter. Though for the life of me I can't recall what type. It's not irony. Gross understatement?

nandemo2• 15 years ago

Not even that, since most astronauts don't really travel to space frequently. It would have to be "involves somewhat longish trips" to be a proper understatement.

Since the ad is for astronaut candidates, the frequent travel is presumably of the boring, Earth-bound type.

snorkel• 15 years ago

"Astronaut Candidates will be required to pass a swimming test during the first month of training."

Does the back float count?

sv123• 15 years ago

Does anybody know how competitive something like this is? Do they get thousands or tens of thousands of applicants? I want to set my expectations accordingly.

listrophy2• 15 years ago

I have a rejection letter from the last round. IIRC, the letter said the number applicants was either 2k or 20k. Sorry for the huge range, but it was ~4 years ago. I believe they accepted 12 into the program.

hugh3• 15 years ago

Kinda makes me wonder why they don't tighten up the application criteria. Bachelor's degree in something vaguely sciencey plus three years experience? Compare that to the actual CVs of the nine folks they selected (out of 3500) last time:

http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/ascans2009.html

mkramlich• 15 years ago

I'm glad it didn't require 20 years of Java experience.

grandalf• 15 years ago

One of the few jobs I'm too tall for.

commieneko5• 15 years ago

Doesn't pay as much as I would have thought.

(But the bennies are out of this world.)

coderdude• 15 years ago

>>SALARY RANGE: $64,724.00 to $141,715.00 / Per Year

Space Shuttle Endeavour cost about $1.7 billion, each Space Shuttle flight cost $450 million, $480.1 million has been awarded through the COTS program - and they would pay an astronaut $65k/year. I'm guessing they feel that the rare opportunity to be in space is enough pay for you. ;)

I'd still do it if I qualified for it.

PS: I wish people would stop with the lazy and "funny" comments. It's like wading through crap.

vilius• 15 years ago

in a sense, it is still a competitive salary

redthrowaway• 15 years ago

>PS: I wish people would stop with the lazy and "funny" comments. It's like wading through crap.

Indeed. I think the submission being a light/fluff piece brings out commenters who otherwise would stay away. That's not a complaint about the submission, however. It's both informative and, on a deep and nerdly level, really cool.

bbrizzi• 15 years ago

I find this low too but the job title is "Astronaut Candidate". This probably does not guarantee that you'll actually go to space. If you manage to go through all the training and get on a real space mission, the salary will probably be higher.

tomkarlo• 15 years ago

Why would they pay more? It's not like you're going to quit after getting selected for flight just because you want a $10K raise.

ww520• 15 years ago

It depends where you live. In the NASA launch area, it goes a long way.

rdtsc• 15 years ago

A lot of astronauts didn't actually fly anywhere. A lot of them have spent decades training and waiting. So it doesn't even guarantee you'll fly anywhere (well except Baikonur or Moscow for training).

sliverstorm3• 15 years ago

I'd still do it if I qualified for it.

Hence why they don't have to pay astronauts half a million.

wlievens2• 15 years ago

I don't think there's ever been an astronaut who did it for the paycheck. All of them would probably pay for the opportunity.

reeses• 15 years ago

They've almost always been on the same GS scale as almost every other federal employee. $141k seems high from what I remember, but the locality adjustment may top out around there.

ew• 15 years ago

Oh darn, I'm too tall. At least I've got a good excuse for cough not being an astronaut cough

shareme• 15 years ago

Can you hear me Major Tom..

wavephorm• 15 years ago

It's probably easier to start a photo-sharing social media network, sell it to Facebook, and use the proceeds to buy a Virgin Galactic ticket, than to get this job.

gcv• 15 years ago

I wonder if a computer science degree counts as education in a branch of mathematics (which qualifies), or in "technology" (which does not).

philwelch2• 15 years ago

"Basic Education Requirement: A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major study in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life sciences, computer science, or other field of science."

MichaelGagnon• 15 years ago

"The following degree fields are not considered qualifying: --Degrees in Technology (Engineering Technology, Aviation Technology, Medical Technology, etc.) "

Job Opening: "Frequent travel may be required"

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