Astronaut Applicant Rating

During this nail-biting season of waiting among the astronaut hopefuls, I thought it would be informative to explore the process by which NASA rates its astronaut applicants. How does NASA go about ranking the applicants in order to determine the 3.9% who will be interviewed? I don't know the answer, but I did find the 1992 version of of NASA's Astronaut Applicant Rating Sheet on the Astronaut Hopefuls website. Here is Section I of the old rating sheet:

A. ACADEMICS 25 points possible
          Highest degree earned:  
                    BS 5 points
                    MS 10 points
                    PhD, MD, or equivalent 20 points
                    More than one field 5 points additional
  Total x QAD Factor = total score
 
B. RECENCY OF EDUCATION 5 points possible
          Years since last degree:  
                    3 or less 5 points
                    3-4 4 points
                    4-5 3 points
                    5 or more 0 points
 
C. EXPERIENCE 30 points possible
          Work Experience 4 points per year (20 points max)
          More than one field up to 10 points additional
  Total x QAD Factor = total score
 
D. OTHER 15 points possible
          Other unique skills and experience
          (e.g., pilot, scuba, etc.)		 up to 15 points
 
E. REFERENCES 25 points possible
          Quality of references up to 25 points
  -------------------
F. TOTAL SCORE 100 points possible

QAD stands for "Quality, Applicability & Diversity." This subjective weighting factor ranges from 0.0 to 1.0. It provides a means for the review committee to evaluate the quality and applicability of applicants’ education or experience. Educational QAD factors for the 1992 mission specialist selection were as follows: 1.0: 1 person, 0.9: 27 people, 0.8: 30 people, 0.7: 10 people, 0.6: 1 person. Experience QAD factors for the 1992 mission specialist selection were as follows: 1.0: 10 people, 0.9: 26 people, 0.8: 21 people, 0.7: 11 people, 0.6: 1 person.

Section II (not shown here) is a completely subjective rating based on the interview. It awards 20 points possible for each of the following criteria: Experience/potential, Motivation, Teamwork, Communications, and Adaptability.

A lot can change in 16 years, but at least this gives us an idea what NASA thinks is important (recent education in multiple fields, excellent references, work experience in multiple fields).

How do you fare? Would you rate above 75, the generally accepted minimum score to be eligible for an interview?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Fantastic information! (this post as well as your others) I am really impressed with your blog. Thank you so much for making all of this information easily accessible and taking the time to compile all of the data for the "hopefuls". I wish you the best in all of your pursuits, especially in your ambitions of becoming an astronaut. Take care.
03 November, 2008 10:32
Anonymous said…
Brian--

Thanks for the great blog. I stumbled upon this rating sheet on the Astronaut Hopefuls site a few weeks back. Wasn't sure how much stock to put in it. If you apply it against some of the recent selections, it doesn't necessarily hold up. For example, look at a bio for Jim Dutton (04 selection):

Education (MS) = 10 points
Yrs since last degree (more than 5) = 0 points
Experience (4+ years as pilot) = 20 points
Other (test pilot) = 15 points?

Total = 45 points. Even if we assume he got 25 for references he wouldn't cross the 75 threshold...

Maybe just me grasping for straws since I don't cross the 75 threshold, either :)
03 November, 2008 14:59
BrianShiro said…
That's a very good point. This rating scheme may very well be outdated. At least it gives a snapshot into how NASA has handled it in the past.

As for the 75 magic number, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I don't cross that threshold, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up hope!
03 November, 2008 15:14
Anonymous said…
This is great! According to this I score between ~95-100 (but still haven't heard a thing though).
04 November, 2008 03:30
space-monkey said…
Congrats on making the cut this far :)
04 November, 2008 10:39
KavyaKamal said…
Hey,
I am an aspiring Astronaut and presently doing my Masters at MIT. I was wondering would doing 2 Masters from two different universities count as 20 points?
08 January, 2009 11:04
BrianShiro said…
Your guess is as good as mine. The way I read the rating scheme, you'd earn up to 15 points: 10 for having a masters as the highest degree and up to 5 if the degrees are in different fields. Of course, NASA may no longer use this rating scheme.
08 January, 2009 11:20
K said…
Well I'm borderline, 70 to 80 depending on QAD and refs. I wonder if teaching at three different levels, HS, CC and Univ counts as different fields. At least my time at a startup & DOE lab work to bolster experience.

The wait is agonizing.
08 December, 2011 06:12
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Insider tips on NASA's astronaut selection

Image
While NASA wraps up interviewing the second group of finalists to determine its 2013 class of ASCANs, the head of the NASA Astronaut Selection Office Duane Ross gave an illuminating presentation at JSC last Thursday about the selection process.  He covered questions ranging from academic degrees to interview questions, medical screening, and Russian language requirements. Pete Dimmick was among those present in the audience. Here are his notes from the event, reprinted with permission: Today I attended a lecture by Duane Ross and his protege, Anne Roemer. Duane has been the head of the astronaut selection process for 37 years and I had a few minutes to speak with them after the lecture was over. Here is what I found out about becoming an astronaut. I won't discuss so much the published requirements, rather I'll be focusing more on the insider things. There have been 257 NASA astronauts over the years and an applicant has a 0.6% chance of being selected. Of those no
READ MORE >>

Space Studies Showdown: ISU vs. UND

Image
--> Please note that this comparison from 2008 is no longer currently applicable to the current programs offered by ISU and UND. An updated post comparing programs in 2014 is coming very soon! I've been getting a lot of questions lately about the similarities and differences between the International Space University (ISU) and University of North Dakota (UND) space studies masters programs. As someone who has been a student in both universities (ISU SSP '05 and UND MS '10), I am in a good position to compare them. Note that although I was accepted into the ISU masters program, I decided to only attend their Summer Session Program (SSP) instead, so my firsthand ISU perspective is from the SSP rather than the masters. Over a year has passed since I blogged about my decision to join the UND Space Studies distance program. At the halfway point, I can report that I am overall quite happy with it so far. Before getting started, I'd like to thank the folks at
READ MORE >>

Interesting Astronaut Statistics

Image
In my continuing quest to become an astronaut, I wanted to figure out what the "typical" astronaut's background is like, so I mined the NASA astronaut bios for information. I was interested in the educational, military, selection age, and spaceflight histories of the astronauts, so I focused on that information. I think the plots below speak for themselves, but if you'd like the raw data or have questions, please feel free to ask. Note that I only compiled information on NASA's 126 active and management astronauts. I didn't include the Payload Specialists, former, or international astronauts, although I might go back later and add them to the analysis. I learned that only 36% of astronauts have earned doctorate degrees, but most of the astronauts selected with only a masters or bachelors had extensive NASA and/or military experience. The typical astronaut has one bachelors and one masters degree, although some do have more than one of either type of de
READ MORE >>