Update: NASA has selected all Interviewees

If the chatter on the AsHos board is accurate, NASA has selected all of its astronaut interviewees for the 2009 group. Unfortunately, I cannot count myself among them. Thank you everyone for following this blog and believing in me. Despite today's setback, I am optimistic that I will make the cut for a future astronaut group. After all, this was only my first try, and I am young enough that I have plenty of years left to work on building my skills, experience, and resume to better prepare me for the job. Let's see how I stack up to the stereotypical astronaut:
  • Passionate about space (check)
  • Meet basic age, height, weight, and vision requirements (check)
  • Generally high level of fitness and athletic experience (check)
  • Eagle Scout and community leadership involvement (check)
  • Good communicator and public educator (check)
  • Expeditions in extreme environments experience (check)
  • Technical operations with high stakes decision-making experience (check)
  • Earned multiple science or engineering degrees in different fields (check)
  • SCUBA diving experience (check, although not much)
  • Military experience (no)
  • Private Pilot Certificate (no, although much informal pilot experience)
  • Earned doctorate degree or equivalent (no, almost finished the Ph.D.)
I'm probably not going to join the military, although it would be fun to be in the National Guard or Civil Air Patrol. I think I stand a better chance focusing on the doctorate and pilot gaps, as well as shoring up my diving experience (As with most things in life, the main barriers are money, time, and motivation.). That's what I'll spend the next few years doing before the next application opportunity. In the mean time, I'll keep posting information about whatever grabs my attention on this blog.

I've blogged previously on how difficult it is to be selected as a NASA astronaut. The following plot shows this year's astronaut selectivity with NASA's new Ares I launch vehicle for scale (click to make larger). I'm proud to have made it within the top 13%. Now, NASA is focusing its attention on the top 3% who are being interviewed through the end of this month.


In other news, please mark your calendars for 10:30am-12:30pm Pacific time on Friday, January 23. I'm going to be the guest on The Space Show. Our main topic of discussion will be my analysis of the ISU and UND Space Studies masters programs. I believe we'll be taking callers with questions too.

Also, stay tuned for a couple of really interesting upcoming posts with complete astronaut statistics as well as how an environmentalist can reconcile with the pollution caused by space travel.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Brian -- I am very impressed with your positive future outlook! -Alina
14 January, 2009 15:07
Anonymous said…
Brian - I have enjoyed reading your blog over the past few months. I am in the same boat - highly qualified, but no interview this time. It would be interesting to see some statistics on the number of applications submitted by selected astronauts - often you read that they went 6-8 rounds before getting selected. Good luck with finishing the PhD and your second year as a parent - it's amazing to watch your baby turn into a little person!
15 January, 2009 05:33
Anonymous said…
Hi Brian,
Congrats on making it to the top 13%. I was apparently in the "Qualified" group, but not the "Highly Qualified" group. I am also young, and this was the first time I applied, so I hope to strengthen my resume and apply again as well. I know this selection process is not even over yet, but do you have any idea when the next selection process may start? Love reading the blog, please keep it up.

Conrad
15 January, 2009 05:50
BrianShiro said…
Thanks for the comments, everyone. A few months ago, NASA was saying they expected the next astronaut group selection to take place no sooner than 2 years from now. I heard from a reliable source yesterday that they now say it'll likely be 4 years from now (2012-2013). This all depends on funding, the status of Constellation, and how many astronauts retire.
15 January, 2009 08:37
Anonymous said…
Thanks so much for your website! I looked at it regularly to see what was going on and appreciate the time you put into it. Good luck with the next selection.
16 January, 2009 11:48
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 >>

The Astronaut Hopeful's Manifesto

Image
I am an astronaut hopeful – one of thousands of people who somehow never outgrew our childhood dream of going to space. Anyone can hope to be an astronaut, but to be an “astronaut hopeful” one must make a commitment to the goal and proactively work towards becoming an astronaut. The road is long and the outcome is uncertain, but it is in trying to achieve this lofty ambition that we learn to become our best selves. Astronauts train to be some of the most focused, resourceful, healthy and dependable people on the planet. Striving to be more like them can help any person to be more effective in life’s pursuits. Making the decision to do everything one can to actually become an astronaut means learning from astronaut role models and making incremental decisions throughout your life that get you closer to your dream. This week NASA began accepting applications to recruit another class of astronaut candidates (ASCAN’s). More than 6,300 people applied during the last opportunity, from ...
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 >>