NFO ---> Astronaut duty?

[LiuXuande]

Hey folks. I've been lurking on the airwarriors board for a while now and finally worked up the courage to register and post. What's up? I qualified for NFO a while back and am currently set for a 6 December 2009 OCS date.

This might be looking a bit far ahead, but I read recently that Naval Aviators and NFOs can become astronauts. What do you have to do to end up partying in orbit in a space shuttle?

 

[HeyJoe]

Do well in fleet squadron, apply for Test Pilot School and ace the program there. Then you can have a shot at applying to join the Astronaut corps. Best to have a graduate degree from top engineering/science institution and undergrad better be eyewatering as well. Go to NASA site and check out astronaut bio section. You can see what you're up against.

 

[Flash]

Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers have both become astronauts, Naval Aviators have from the beginning. Right now as a pilot you could be a Shuttle Pilot (tactical aviation pilots only for the Navy and Marines) or a Mission Specialist (any pilot). As an NFO you would become a Mission Specialist.

The majority of Pilots and NFO's who enter the astronaut program have gone to test pilot school. A few pilot and NFO Mission Specialists have done what most non-military aviator astronauts have done and do graduate studies/research/degrees and get in that way, often with a doctorate in something space/science related.

All this info is current for the Space Shuttle which no future astronaut will fly. I have no idea what NASA will do in the future but I would imagine that the setup will be somewhat similar if they get the Orion spacecraft off the ground and with 6 astronauts crammed in there.

Here are the NASA Astronaut Requirements. Another place to look to see what kind of quals you would need would be the official astronaut bios.

And if you searched the site here there are a few threads on the quals too with more info.

 

[srqwho]

I actually spoke with a rep who is involved with the selection and according to her as soon as the shuttle is retired the "pilot" option that requires jet PIC time will no longer be relevant.

As far as getting selected goes, well, like the others relies have mentioned, check out the bios of the current selects. For the non-pilot or non-military selects it seems like they have advanced degrees from big name schools and are in some sort of senior position at even bigger schools. From what I gathered the pilots aren't as "accomplished" when it comes to education, but all have an MS in something having to do with engineering and a lot of times were picked up for and did well at TPS. I also think I remember reading of a SEAL who was selected too.

As far as your OCS date goes... I'm a little surprised to read that you are starting on 6 DEC. Last year I think the OCs were given 2 weeks optional leave over Christmas, which sounds like it would begin a week or so after you showed up. Forgive me if this was covered in another thread.

 

[yak52driver]

What everyone has said is accurate. I'd add persistance is also a key to success. One of the mission specialist astronauts that is getting ready to fly applied fourteen times before he was accepted, he was working at JSC during that time. When I worked there I also figured out who you know makes a difference in becoming accepted, too. (As with most things in life). But with the shuttle (supposedly) being grounded in 2010 things will be in a state of change for a while. There is uncertainty around the Aries/Orien program, at least for the short term we'll be reliant on Russian launch vehicles to get to/from orbit. Still, a pretty cool job.

 

[LiuXuande]

Gah. I should have thought about checking out the NASA website to learn about the qualifications and what they are looking for. But no, that would have made sense.

Test Pilot School, postgraduate degree in Engineering or something Sciencey, good ole' persistence, and being generally awesome. Got it.

I thought it was a really odd OCS date too. According to the website, OCS will stand down from 18 December until 3 January of the new year. My recruiter says that more than likely, we'll only get a week off with half of us taking Christmas and the other half taking New Year's. Either way, I think I'll stay in Rhode Island. I'm afraid that after the craziness of Indoc Week, going home will seriously screw with my focus and desire to stay the course at OCS. :icon_lol:

 

[TopShot]

Check out the November issue of Popular Science, there is an article in there about the "astronaut of the future". It talks a lot about what future astronauts will endure now that the shuttle is being decommissioned. It's a good read.

 

[CumminsPilot]

Check out the November issue of Popular Science, there is an article in there about the "astronaut of the future". It talks a lot about what future astronauts will endure now that the shuttle is being decommissioned. It's a good read.

I would take anything written in Popular Science with a truckload of salt. Just saying...

 

[TopShot]

I would take anything written in Popular Science with a truckload of salt. Just saying...

Yea I know...I still found it interesting though.

 

[Catmando]

NFO and Mission Specialist Astronaut, Dale Gardner was my stateroom mate aboard the Enterprise when he was selected for NASA's astronaut program.

You can follow his career progression in his wiki-bio. Note that not only did he receive very select orders – and necessary for the program - he was always at the top of his class throughout his schooling and naval career.

 

[PropStop]

Well, having NFOs on space ships makes total sense - even shuttle pilots need a wingman to take the fat chick.

I KEED, I KEED!

 

[eddie]

I would take anything written in Popular Science with a truckload of salt. Just saying...

But its POPULAR!!!

 

[MAKE VAPES]

I know at least one person in the astronaut "not" pool (since it seems to me that you should have some extra-atmospheric time to earn such title). TPS pilots are rare breeds... they disqual in rhino's after flying tomcats, they take off with wings in oversweep, taxi up and over the scupper with questionable jet issues... lets not champion these folks tooooooo much now... but boy can they get a data point for you. Good luck!

 

[IRfly]

Too soon?

 

[Uncle Fester]

Well, there is that. Just based on the guys I know who've been or are going to TPS, being a great stick is not necessarily a pre-req. Hundred-pound head definitely is.

I don't know if it ever really was The Right Stuff-style hair-on-fire flying...maybe for a few years in the '50's and '60's when the line was blurred between "test flying" and "stunt flying"...but nowadays it's all about gathering data points under extremely controlled conditions. "I went as fast as I could, then the sonofabitch crashed" doesn't accomplish much. Being a Test Pilot is mostly about being a winged engineer - and those guys later become your astronauts.