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Insider tips on NASA's astronaut selection

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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...
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Space Studies Showdown: ISU vs. UND

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--> 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 ...
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NASA's 2009 Astronaut Class Selection Timeline and Stats

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There was recently a flurry of emails among Astronaut Hopefuls Group members on NASA's progress so far in in the 2009 astronaut class selection. I've modified the NASA timeline with what we know or expect so far: September 2007 Vacancy Announcement opens at USAJOBS July 1, 2008 Vacancy Announcement closes 3564 applications were received. late September 2008 Applications reviewed to determine Qualified applicants approximately 735 were disqualified, leaving 2800 October 2008 Qualified Applications reviewed to determine Highly Qualified applicants ~450 will be selected. References for Highly Qualified applicants will be contacted via mail, and background checks will be done. November 2008 Highly Qualified applications reviewed to determine Interviewees ~120 will be selected. Interviewees will be contacted via phone. November 2008 - January 2009 Interviewees brought to JSC for preliminary...
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