Last Updated on April 20, 2020
Flying is one of the dreams that keep on repeating for many people. I’ve dreamed of myself flying, since childhood to this day. Those books for interpreting dreams (which I’m quite fond of, although I’m not so much of a believer) say that it is good for one to dream that he is flying. What if your dream could become true?
Well, since flying machines were invented, people made a passion from sending all kind of things into the space, including dogs (Laika, the first living creature launched in space, and which did not seem to live as long as Russians told us), monkeys (Albert and Albert II, the rhesus monkeys), cats, tortoises, mice, guinea pigs, or frogs. One after the other, our cosmic heroes gave their lives for the sake of science, preparing the scene for a future which is already here:
NASA is hiring astronauts for 2009
I’ve just read this article about NASA beginning the hunt for new astronauts. Briefly, the requirements to apply for a position are:
- to hold a bachelor’s degree in engineering, science or mathematics
- to have three years of relevant professional experience
The most interesting part is that NASA wants part of the new astronaut staff to have teaching experience, as their officials stated:
Experienced teachers of kindergarten through the 12th grade level are also considered qualified.
If you want to know more details about how to apply, you can find them here: http://www.usajobs.gov/.
I find this interesting, not because I qualify (although I would have wanted to), but because it makes me think. What is the possible use of a teacher in space? What are the qualities that make teachers a viable choice?
Here are some possible answers:
- Teachers are used to work in closed spaces (what’s a space ship after you spent 10 years of your life between the four walls of a classroom?)
- Teachers don’t lose their calm in UFOs encounters (who did not throw at least once with a razor or a paper ball towards the back of a busy teacher?)
- Teachers like silence and try to obtain it by all means (and what can be more silent than the space vacuum?)
- Most teachers have little control over school policy or curriculum or choice of texts, but most have a great deal of autonomy inside the classroom (very much like astronauts, who have barely any control on a ship’s exterior conditions)
- Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task (This saying belongs to Haim G. Ginott)
- In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years (This saying belongs to Jacques Barzun)
- Last but not least, there’s a Latin proverb that says:
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will understand.
Maybe NASA hopes to understand the miracles of space, by sending teachers upfront. Anyway, I like their initiative to broaden the specialists range and I look forward to the day when they will hire blogger-astronauts.
Wouldn’t you like to make money blogging from the Moon?
