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So You want to be an Astronaut Essay

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The one question you hear all the time as a little kid is “what do you want to be when you grow up.” Most children give the same three answers: doctor, lawyer, or astronaut. The adult who asked the question usually replies with a little chuckle underneath their breath because they know what achieving one of these prestigious jobs entail. In today’s world only the elite will ever have a chance of receiving such an astounding career opportunity. Now, looking back at the top three answers given by children, the reality of becoming a doctor or a lawyer is much more likely than receiving the job as an astronaut. Today the qualifications you must meet to be eligible for this career include: exceling in an array of required skills, passing …show more content…

In the past they would look for at least a 1,000 hours in flight time, currently they are looking for someone who has at least 3 years of experience in their specific field. There is no specific ability that you must meet to be looked at however; NASA tends to look at applicants who “undertake whatever they do with the full force of their abilities to reach a level of excellence.” When the top 100 applications are selected personality is what matters the most. The applicant must undergo a personal interview with a board of NASA executives to decide whether they like you or not. Personality is something that is a must when you are chosen to go up in space. Being in a small space for up to six months with six or so other people requires the astronaut to have good personable skills that will make the mission go as planned.
This career requires extremely specific health standards each trainee must meet to become eligible to go on a mission. The space physical is extremely similar to the military flight physical except for a few differences. The vision of the trainee must have a visual acuity of 20/200, or must be correctable to 20/20 in each eye. For every crewmember, extensive amounts of medical test are run before take off due to the high-risk situations encountered in this career. A blood pressure of 140/90 is considered impeccable for anyone aspiring to achieve the status of an astronaut. However, any slight variation in this number is considered a medical

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