Steve's Blog (for Jobseekers & those hiring)

I had this interesting idea for a series of blog posts.  I thought it might be interesting to write up something fun and career-related at the same time.  How about this:

When most of us were growing up, we all had fantasies about what we wanted to be when we grew up.  In some cases, it was a doctor, or an astronaut, or a cowboy, or a deep sea diver, or a photographer, or a veterinarian, or a lawyer, or a model, or actress, etc., etc.  Well, how would it be to pull each of these apart and decipher what it would take to be just that, including how much training, education, experience, and commitment it would require to be considered successful?  If this does sound interesting to you, then by all means, read on!

Let’s take among the most “far out” professions: Astronaut

Background:

Typically, for many kids, this used to be a “dream job.” In the fifties (and maybe early sixties), we were bombarded by imagery of other worlds from sci-fi television shows and movies painting pictures of far-off, unknown worlds, exotic civilizations, and alien beings. I believe part of the appeal came from the idea that these were things that we could not prove, substantiate, or verify (at least not in our foreseeable lifetimes). Therefore, it was easy to imagine whatever we wanted to be the reality of these things, places, and entities we would hypothetically encounter.   Nowadays, while a smaller number of folks aspire to do this type of work, the need for qualified, competent candidates in this field still exists.

About the job:

Beyond the hyperbole, an astronaut is a merging of variously different professions and expertise. First and foremost, these folks undergo rigorous mental and physical testing and training akin to a deep-sea diver or air force pilot. The physical training can be severe, pushing the body to its limits to determine how well it can survive stress at extreme temperatures, pressure, and shock.

Simulators provide the physical sensation of traveling at hundreds to upwards of thousands of miles per hour, required to escape the earth’s tremendous gravitational pull. There is training in jets and underwater to simulate weightless environments, as well as training in virtual simulators to re-create the experience of stress, rotations, and adverse conditions such as heat, or cold.  Not every candidate who trains for these roles survives the curriculum.  Many wash out due to not being able to take the stress, or failing to react as required by the course.

For the mental training, there is intricate courses in a variety of academic areas from meteorology, earth and space sciences to chemistry and engineering as required to pilot or otherwise occupy a spacefaring vessel.  Added to this are survivalist techniques, allowing potential candidates to survive the harsh conditions durig a crash on Earth.  Astronauts in general must have the training to be able to anticipate and effectively manage scenarios from losses in cabin pressure, to outgassing of particles, to simple or complex systems repair.  Modern astronautical training requires comprehension and a comfort level in working with computerized and automated systems.  Nowadays, many of the systems are run with intricate circuit boards and systems so advanced, that originally the computers needed to perform this type of work would take up rooms the size of small wherehouses.

Related Sites:

How Astronauts Work (by William Harris of howstuffworks.com)

http://science.howstuffworks.com/astronaut.htm

Provides a detailed overview of what astronauts go through as far as selection, training, and preparation for working in space.