Astronaut for Hire

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...

One thing that been on my to-do list for a long time is earning my scuba divers certification. I started taking a scuba class during my junior year of high school but couldn't commit to the dive portion because I couldn't afford the cost of buying my own equipment (and rental wasn't an option for some reason). I started snorkeling in 2001 on my first Fiji trip during graduate school. I almost decided to earn my scuba certification then, but I couldn't afford the approximately $400 cost. Since then, I've also snorkeled in Tonga, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Hawaii. Now that I'm applying to be an astronaut and have a decent income, it's high time I start diving. First, I investigated all PADI instructors on Oahu. The costs generally range from $250-$500 for 3-7 day classes. The best deals I found were $249 for a 4 day course and $275 for a 3 day course, both of which include all fees and gear rental in that price. This is good because I don...

I joined a social network called Space Democrats that is "dedicated to electing Democrats who support progressive space policies that maximize the positive impact of the US Space Program on the nation and the world." The discussions have been interesting, particularly with regard to the current U.S. Presidential candidates' positions on space issues. Check it out: http://www.spacedemocrats.org Add this to the list of my other profiles .

I've been working hard on my NASA astronaut application. I had some questions regarding the resume portion, so I emailed the NASA human resources contact, and she was very responsive and helpful. One friend has helped me edit the first draft of my resume, which is coming along nicely but could use a little more tweaking. If anyone wants to take a look at it and offer your suggestions, please contact me. Update 3/29/08: Thanks to John for reviewing my resume for me. I also hired a professional career coach to help me streamline the resume wording. It's getting there...

Virgin Galactic has unveiled the design of its new space launch system SpaceShipTwo, based on the 2004 X-PRIZE-winning SpaceShipOne. The new mothership called the WhiteKnightTwo is nearing completion and will undergo testing in summer 2008. Even better, both WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo are being designed to run on biofuel, making them more environmentally friendly. Here is a link to the Virgin Galactic press release (MS Word format) .

To share pictures and movies of my son with family, I need a reliable and easy to use site. There are many options out there, and I researched the pro's and con's of many of them in great detail. In the end, I chose phanfare for its excellent slideshows and integration of photos and video. From now on, my media home on the web is: http://shiro.phanfare.com

At 10:36pm on November 19, 2007, my wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy. We named him "Henry Hiroshi Shiro" after his great-grandfathers on both sides of the family: "Henry" (Germanic, means "home ruler") was my dad's dad name, and "Hiroshi" (Japanese, means tolerant, generous, or prosperous) is Holli's mother's dad's middle name. Little Henry was born with a weight of 7 pounds 11 ounces (3489 g) and was 21.75 inches (55.25 cm) long. He's a week old now and in perfect health.