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Showing posts from June, 2011

Astronaut Career Flow Chart

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A few weeks ago, GOOD Magazine published a very entertaining infographic titled " Should You Give Up Your Dream of Being an Astronaut? " in response to a USA Today article interviewing Duane Ross on the changing prospects for NASA astronauts .   I really like how well they were able to lightheartedly boil down some rather complex career decision factors into such simple binary choices. The main criticism I have for the flowchart is that it assumes the only way to be an astronaut is through NASA.  It ignores the commercial pathways to space.  For example, one can go into space and technically be an astronaut without having a science or engineering degree as long as one can afford the ticket as a private spaceflight participant .  Assuming the chart is targeted towards prospective professional astronauts only rather than tourists, perhaps after the "Do you speak Russian?" question's "No" choice, there should have been another question like "A

Space Race 2.0

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Last night NBC Nightly News featured a nice segment on the new space race. Unlike the competition between the US and USSR that fueled the first space race, the modern one involves private companies like SpaceX , Boeing , Orbital Sciences , Sierra Nevada , Blue Origin , Virgin Galactic , and XCOR competing with one another to produce the safest, most cost effective vehicles to transport astronauts, cargo, and tourists to orbital and suborbital space.  Of course, the commercial spaceflight era really began in 2004 when SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X PRIZE , so this video isn't news to anyone who follows the space industry. However, it's significant because it reached a large mainstream audience of viewers in the general public. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy As the 30-year Space Shuttle era draws to a close next month, NASA will have to rely on the Russians for a ride during the next few years. That's why NASA's 2