Career Choice

GA lynlynch.

It is probably the most important criteria for any scientist or astronaut that they can communicate well. Making a discovery is easy, you just have to be lucky. Getting people to understand and use your discovery that can be very difficult. We are not in your social group. We do not understand the abbreviated acronyms of "agr" and "pcm". We do not even know now if NASA will have astronauts in a few years.

I fully agree with you, although if there is one place where acronyms abound it's NASA...or the extended military complex in general. It's almost like they communicate in code.

Yes, they do communicate in acronyms but only once they know that all relevant parties know which unique acronym to use. Thus it is a preset code that they use, not an Ad-Hoc acronym selection.

"...to communicate a but after all.." ..typo... should have been "...to communicate a bit after all ..."

CR4 is international Forum we all should try to avoid to use acronyms so that every one can understand the question in details. Many a times we come across local acronyms which only people from that country can understand. In this case it is young man from India who is in need of proper guidance. He has used local acronyms which have been clarified subsequently by our other friends from India. So let us help the boy to choose right career.

As one sayig goes ... "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything !"

Why did you have to say all this ? CR4 doesn't demand that you answer everything you read, does it?

Learn to spell. Avoid acronyms unless you're SURE your readers know what you're talking about, or explain what they are.

Getting into a US Military service academy and mastering the maths so that you can ace aeronautical engineering and qualify for Flight career probably wouldn't hurt...

Milo

i am assuming you are from India since 12 and pcm will be self-evident here...("12"th grade, after which one can do professional courses... engineering, medicine etc, and "pcm" means Physic, Chemistry and Mathematics, essential for engineering)

i appreciate your use of lower case "i" which shows humility. i don't know if you meant it that way. Please pay attention to what others have said here about unambiguous communication.

However, while it is good to dream of going into space, have you studied what Rakesh Sharma did here? Also look at biographies of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams who were US citizens and went through NASA.

Better you apsire to be the brains behind the space shuttle. The great scientists and engineers who make it happen, not just the visible glory guys. Join ISRO if you can, after either MSc Physics or a good BTech...

Good luck in whatever you do...it requires lots of intense studying..which i am sure you are prepared to do.

Hi Young man,

Why you want to be Astronaut?. It is lonely place in space, also risky too. We lost Late Ms.Kalapna Chawla. If you are good in PCM then better try to get admission in IIT or in any good Engineering college. Pursue course in Computer Science and be IT wizard and latter on try for admission in IIM for MBA course.

God Bless You,

Suresh Sharma.

And also as there are world wide only a few astronauts there is going to be a long wait, and a lot of competition.

But if its still what you want look at the links i sent on prvious post, and follow their advice.

I wish you every success in your dream.

Its good to have dreams, It gives you somthing to aim for.

As for dying in space, what a really good way to die, doing somthing you love.

So much better than dying slowly of old age, i think.

Because this person is registered as a "Guest" he's probably not going to see these posts.

On another note:

If you want to find Gold, you have to ask somebody that has found gold. Not someone that has found copper.

That means coming to an engineering forum isn't going to get you the answers you're looking for unless one of us here just happens to be an astronaut.

You should probably think about getting degrees in a couple different fields. All the astronauts do. Astronauts are cross trained to take the place of a team member that might be incompacitated. So you have to demonstrate the ability to be competent in multi-tasking.

They not only look for the ability to excel academically, they are look for those that excel physically and you would be put through a lot of physical testing.

The best place to look is to find biographies on actual astronauts or look at a career guide for becoming an astronaut.

Why bother with NASA? Look at all the private companies now involved in rockets, Low Earth Orbit spacecraft, and satellites.

And think about what specifically you want to do: to be an astronaut pilot, an engineer, a scientist? What is it you want to do, once you are in space?

I read an article about the astronauts on one of the most recent launches. If I remember right it was 4 astronauts. Three had a degree in mechanical engineering (one of those was a masters) and one had a degree in electrical engineering.

Your best bet may be to get a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and then a masters in aerospace engineering (basically a subdivision of mechanical).

Try googling degrees of astronauts or something like that and see what comes up.

While NASA is an excellent dream, and one I whole heartedly urge your to pursue. I encourage you to look at the more likely jobs that those degrees lead to. There are MANY people who want to be an astronaut, and few are chosen. Often due to considerations beyond your control, such as less then perfect sight, accidental injury, etc. So I encourage you to look at the normal jobs for somebody with an engineering degree, and a physics degree, and chose what you would prefer. Another thing to consider is your desire to pursue an advanced degree. It seems that there are a lot more opportunities for a bachelor in ME then a bachelor in physics. So you may need to obtain a masters or PhD if you go the physics route, in order to have the career you desire.