• Question: What qualifications do you have to have to work for NASA?

    Asked by mattiosmmm to Adam, Geoff, Rob, Sheila, Suzie on 15 Mar 2011 in Categories: . This question was also asked by dmcbmx.
    • Photo: Geoff McBride

      Geoff McBride answered on 14 Mar 2011:

      NASA is huge with many locations and people. To work in the USA you do have to have a visa. If your from UK or European why not look at the European Space Agency [ESA] but also there are more than a few companies and Universities in the space business

      http://www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency has lots of info

    • Photo: Sheila Kanani

      Sheila Kanani answered on 14 Mar 2011:

      Oooo good question. Well there are different ways that you can get to work for NASA.
      They take on lots of different people; scientists, engineers, mathmaticians, technicians, educators, doctors, managers….so in terms of background it can be very varied.
      If you want to work for them permanently I’m pretty sure you need to be an american citizen.
      If you want to go and work for them for a few years you can do a post-doctorate position after your phd which normally lasts two to three years. Then once you come back to the UK everyone wants to hire you because you have NASA on your CV 🙂
      NASA are also represented in a lot of universities in the US so maybe you could think of going to study in the US as an undergraduate? Or you could go to some Irish universities who send their students to work for NASA for six month placements.

    • Photo: Adam Tuff

      Adam Tuff answered on 14 Mar 2011:

      It really depends what you want to do – NASA has such a huge number of employees from Engineers all the way to Astronauts. They do look for all sorts of scientists including biologists, chemists, geologists, electricians – if you’re considering a job at NASA in the future, then stick with science! Even one of the Astronauts recently said that they were selected because they had good qualifications in maths and science!

    • Photo: Suzie Sheehy

      Suzie Sheehy answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      I’m not sure but I’m sure you could find out on NASA’s website. I’m pretty sure you’d want to have a degree in some kind of science or engineering, but they are probably looking for all sorts of people. Can I put a word in for ESA, the European Space Agency?? A bit closer to home…

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