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From: phil@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (William LeFebvre)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Advice?? (asking for)
Message-ID: <1513@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 7 Nov 89 18:35:13 GMT
References: <89306.192249AEA1@PSUVM.BITNET> <1989Nov6.174204.896@utzoo.uucp>
Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu
Reply-To: phil@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (William LeFebvre)
Organization: Northwestern U, Evanston IL, USA
Lines: 43

In article <1989Nov6.174204.896@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <89306.192249AEA1@PSUVM.BITNET> AEA1@PSUVM.BITNET (Amy Antonucci) writes:
>>I was wondering if anyone out there could give me advice on how
>>to get on the right track so that I may be involved in the space
>>program as a career.
>
>Operating mostly means working for NASA.

The current setup for shuttle flight operations is kind of half NASA/JSC
and half "STSOC" (Shuttle Transport System Operations Contract).
STSOC is a consortium of companies, primarily Rockwell (the RSOC
group), Bendix, and Ford Aerospace (not sure about the last one).

There are advantages and disadvantages with each (NASA vs. STSOC).
STSOC typically pays better at first, but there is little chance for
advancement.  NASA is the other way around, and has the advantage that
you can always try to switch to something else when you get bored with
STS operations.  My wife was hired by Rockwell/RSOC fresh out of
college in the summer of 1986 (just after Challenger and just before
an across-the-board hiring freeze!).  She double majored in Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science and graduated cum laude from Rice
University (I'm not saying this to boast, but to give you an
indication of her qualifications....of course, being female helped a
bit, too, with the so-called "equal employment" quotas and all).
After being there for about two years (as I recall) she was given the
opportunity to switch over to NASA.  Some people may not realize that
this is a possibility, but it is: you can start off with a contractor
and may still have the opportunity to switch to NASA a few years
later.

> Getting involved with the military does not look like a particularly
> good way to get into the space business, at present.  When you ride
> a gorilla, you go where the gorilla wants to go, not where you want to go.

That's a great way of putting it.  In the military, THEY decide where
you are stationed: you have very little say in the matter.  Besides,
it looks like the Air Force is getting out of the manned space
business, at least for now.

		William LeFebvre
		Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
		Northwestern University
		<phil@eecs.nwu.edu>