Astronomer Dr. Pamela L. Gay returns what it really takes to be an astronaut—an inside look at required skills and the long timeline involved.
Astronauts Prepping to be The Martian:
They build things and grow things…in space
by Dr. Pamela L. Gay
“Kid, by the time you’re grown up NASA will have built all the cool stuff.” I heard those words in 1988. That dude was wrong—today is a great time (for somebody else) to be an astronaut.
At the time, eighth-grade me was standing in front of a diagram of the planned Space Station Freedom at the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center. I was there to pretend to be an astronaut as I attended Space Camp. At that adolescent moment, all I wanted to do was fly among the stars, help build space stations, conduct research, be a science communicator, and build international peace one rocket launch at a time. I was a kid; I wanted to do everything, and I wanted to do it in space. Continue reading…