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NASA trains men and women to become astronauts and they live a wonderful life.
Have you ever thought of being an astronaut, traveling in space and working there? NASA will be glad to train you if you meet their specifications. The term “astronaut� comes from the Greek term meaning “space sailor.�
NASA, the National Astronautics and Space Administration, was set up 51 years ago by the United States. It has been one of the greatest organizations ever, and continues to do spectacular things to this day. It has trained young men and women to become astronauts.
There are four sections of astronauts that include commander, pilot, mission specialist and payload specialist. The pilot works with the commander in getting space shuttles to arrive and land at their destination. Sometimes the commander is also the pilot.
The commander is the one responsible for the mission, the crew and the operation and the vehicle that the astronauts travel in. The pilot’s job is to assist the commander in operating the vehicle, or the shuttle, and the deployment of satellites when necessary.
The mission specialist works with the commander and pilot in shuttle operations, performs the space walks and conducts experiments, calling on other astronauts to assist him.
The payload specialist is often someone who comes from outside NASA.
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A person who wishes to become an astronaut files a somewhat complicated application with NASA. Over a two-year period, NASA receives more than 4,000 such applications. After NASA examines each application it usually decides to fully explore the qualifications of only 150 or so applicants. Astronauts are federal civil service employees and their income pay is based on experience. They are eligible for vacation, medical and life insurance and retirement benefits.
There are a number of basic qualifications required for becoming an astronaut for NASA. Pilots and mission specialists must be U.S. citizens. Payload specialists may be from other countries. A bachelor’s degree from a university, at least, is necessary. The candidate must have studied engineering, physical sciences, biological sciences and mathematics at an accredited college or university, and must have gotten good grades.
After obtaining the bachelor’s degree, the candidate must have accrued three years of related experience. This experience could be work, or studying and receiving a master’s degree and also a doctorate.
Candidates in general are required to pass what is called a NASA space physical examination, which is similar to civilian and military flight examinations. These are not easy examinations. Candidates for the position of pilot must spend more than 1,000 hours of experience as a pilot in command of a jet aircraft. The candidate’s size is important and specified as a minimum height of 5 feet 4 inches to a maximum height of 6 feet 4 inches. Oddly, mission payload specialists are acceptable if they are only 58.5 inches tall.
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If you are one of the 150 selected from the 4,000-plus who registered, you will have to report at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where you will begin your two-year training period, during which time you will be evaluated as a possible astronaut. This is a period in which you will take courses in basic science, including math, astronomy, physics, meteorology, geology and oceanography. You will also take courses in technology that will include navigation, orbital mechanics, materials processing and space shuttle systems.
An important part of training has to do with land and sea survival techniques, living in high- and low-pressure environments and the use of space suits. You will have to pass a swimming test where you swim three lengths of a 25-meter pool in a flight suit and tennis shoes, and then you will have to tread water for 10 minutes.
At the end of the two-year training, NASA chooses as astronauts between 20 and 25 of the contestants who have done what they consider the best jobs of the testing session. These astronauts are active in space travel for a period of five to seven years. They apply all that they have learned and practiced during the two years of training on the ground, and they do wonderful work in space, work that makes every space trip important and useful.
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Fifty years after NASA’s foundation, it arguably leads the world in exploration and finding new things over and over again in space. NASA’s astronauts have circled the world, walked on the moon, piloted the first winged spacecraft and teamed with Russia to construct the International Space Station. NASA’s robotic spacecraft have visited all of our planets and studied our Earth from space. NASA has been able to peer back into the beginnings of time of our universe and it continues to do more and more. Its astronauts are wonderful, bright and active people.
NASA’s annual publication, SPINOFF 2009, is ready for reception. Just call 301-286-0561 and ask for it. It will arrive free of charge. I have enjoyed SPINOFF for many years, and you can do the same.
Sidney X. Shore is a scientist, inventor and educator who lives in Salisbury and holds more than 30 U.S. patents.
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Telecom Reg’s Best Kept On the Books
When Connecticut land-use commissions update their regulations, it seems like a no-brainer to jettison old telecommunications regulations adopted decades ago during a short-lived period when municipalities had authority to regulate second generation (2G) transmissions prior to the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) being ordered by a state court in 2000 to regulate all cell tower infrastructure as “functionally equivalent” services.
It is far better to update those regs instead, especially for macro-towers given new technologies like small cells. Even though only ‘advisory’ to the CSC, the preferences of towns by law must be taken into consideration in CSC decision making. Detailed telecom regs – not just a general wish list -- are evidence that a town has put considerable thought into where they prefer such infrastructure be sited without prohibiting service that many – though not all – citizens want and that first responders rely on for public safety.
Such regs come in handy when egregious tower sites are proposed in sensitive areas, typically on private land. The regs are a town’s first line of defense, especially when cross referenced to plans of conservation and development, P&Z regulations, and wetlands setbacks. They identify how/where the town plans to intersect with the CSC process. They are also a roadmap for service providers regarding preferred sites and sometimes less neighborhood contention. In fact, to have no telecom regs can weaken a town’s rights to protect environmental, scenic, and historic assets, and serve up whole neighborhoods to unnecessary overlapping coverage and corporate overreach. Such regs are unique to every town and should not follow anyone else’s boiler plate, especially industry’s.
Connecticut is the only state that has a centralized siting entity for cell towers. The good news is that applicants must prove need for new tower sites in an evidentiary proceeding and any decisions have the weight of the state behind them. The bad news is that the CSC used to be far less industry-friendly and rote in their reviews, which now resemble a check list. There is an operative assumption at CSC that if an applicant wants a tower, they must need it, otherwise why spend significant money to run the approval gauntlet? This reflects a subtle shift over the years at CSC from sincere willingness to protect the environment toward minimal tweaking of bad applications with minor changes. The bottom line is that towns really cannot rely on the CSC to do all the work for them.
What CSC issues telecom providers is a “certificate of environmental compatibility” after an evidentiary proceeding (not unlike a court case) with intervenors, parties, expert witnesses, and the service provider’s technical pro’s sworn in and subject to cross examination. Service providers get to do the same with any opposition from intervenor/party participants – like towns and citizens -- and their experts. It’s an impressive process whose ultimate goal is the fine balancing between allowing adequate/reliable public services and protecting state ecology with minimal damage to scenic, historic, and recreational values. They unfortunately often fall short of their mandate – like approving cell towers with diesel generators over town aquifers -- evidenced by CSC only rejecting about five cell towers in the past 15-20 years.
The CSC was founded in 1972 and clarified its mission in the 1980’s to prevent the state from being carved up willy-nilly by gas pipelines, high tension corridors, and broadcast towers. With the sudden proliferation of cell towers beginning in late 1990’s, it became the most sued agency in Connecticut by both an arrogant upstart industry if applications were denied and by towns/citizens when bad sites were forced on them. CSC gradually formed a defensive posture that drives their decisions toward industry with deeper pockets and attorneys on retainer.
For citizens, nothing can wreck one’s day like the CSC. It behooves towns to protect what little toolkit they have, and understand the legal parameters of the CSC’s playing field. The CSC is not a “normal” government agency where municipal/citizen redress is based on logic and local support. Their process is largely immune to everything but specific kinds of evidence – like town regs with setbacks/fall zones, radio frequency transmission signal strengths, sensitive areas identified, and detailed wildlife inventory, among others.
There is a current cell tower fight involving two intervening towns -- Washington and Warren; both with good cell tower regs – over a tower site within 1200’ of a Montessori School, near Steep Rock’s nature preserves with comprehensive geology/wildlife databases that include endangered, threatened and special concern flora and fauna, on established federal/state migratory bird flyways, within throwing distance to a historic site capable of being listed on the Underground Railroad, and with an access road on a blind curve entering a state highway that will permanently damage wetlands, vernal pools, and core forests. There are well credentialed environmental experts, including Dr. Michael Klemens, former chair of Salisbury’s P&Z, as well as the former director of migratory bird management at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and an RF engineer testifying to alternative approaches, plus three attorneys representing intervenors. It is the most professional challenge I have seen at CSC since Falls Village successfully mounted one that protected Robbins Swamps several years ago.
The hearing is ongoing, with uncertain results. To see what it takes today to stop an inappropriate tower siting, see Docket #543 under “Pending Matters” at https://portal.ct.gov/csc before removing local cell tower regs – the lowest hanging fruit that any town can possess in case it’s needed.
B, Blake Levitt is the Communications Director at The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council. She writes about how technology affects biology.