Cool Jobs up for grabs. :)

[jjjnettie]

I wish I'd gone to Uni. .... too late now. :(

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/02/22/nasa-will-pay-you-to-eat-astronaut-food-for-4-months/

[supernova1965]

:sadeyes: I would have jumped at this had I the qualifications and would have foregone the 5grand to do it.

[gary]

Hi JJJ,

It is puzzling that despite the data set of countless generations of twenty-something-year-olds
sitting alone in their own tiny bedsitters and eating the same TV dinners every night,
not to mention millions of people who are incarcerated in prison cells eating the
same old prison food day in day out, that the psychologists at NASA are concerned
that somehow an individual traveling to Mars will suffer claustrophobia along with
annoyance at being caged-up with their fellow astronauts or will suffer "food fatigue". :lol:

What happened to the days of astronauts with the "Right Stuff" who would be
eager to undergo such a mission and content with taking nothing more than twelve packs
of Beemams for their complete dietary needs? (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beemans_gum) :lol:

I am confident if NASA put out the call for being the first person to fly to Mars
in a capsule the size of a wheelie bin along with five other occupants and
the diet was a packet of Beemans a day supplemented by sucking on the
occasional beef jerky, we would have 100 volunteers put up their hand right
here on IceInSpace. :lol:

Prospective candidates in the meantime would be advised to avoid haute cuisine
and not watch MasterChef. :thumbsup:

[supernova1965]

I think it has something to do with the longest voyage from the apollo days was around a week with Mars we are talking atleast 9 months. Its a little easier to handle meager food for a short time.

[gary]

Hi Warren,

I think you mean that the concern is that the next generation of prospective
astronauts might not be able to handle "meager food" for years at a time. :lol:

The flight time duration is put into context when one considers for those who lived in
countries such as England and Australia in the years between 1900 and 1946,
that bread and dripping was commonly part of the daily diet for millions of people
for years at a time. Had it been somehow technically possible to fly to Mars in
October 1945, I don't think "will the food be boring?" would be the first question
prospective astronauts would have raised rather than "what food should I eat
to stay in good health in a zero gravity environment for this many months at a time?"
If the answer had been "unfortunately most of the foods you ticked as disliking",
that does not seem it would have greatly phased the palettes of the generations of
the past. One has to admire them.

It is not surprising that the NASA experiment includes volunteers who have
a "bachelor's degree in engineering." A large percentage of the original astronauts in
the 60's had engineering backgrounds, including Armstrong and Aldrin.
(Let's face, who else would you send there first?).
However, some insight into NASA's thinking is gleaned from the passage
in the Forbes story where it reads "you have to live astronaut-style: in a small
enclosure with strangers, with limited showers, writing daily reports". That seems
to be a reasonable description of the existence of the average undergraduate engineer,
crowded in shared accommodation, eating the same junk food day in day out
for years at a time, filling out constant assignments and showering occasionally. :lol:

Finally, I recommend the above diet of words be consumed with a large grain of salt. :lol:

[PeterM]

I will go for nothing more than a round trip supply of baked beanz. Would save a lot on the cost of fuel as well!
PeterM.

[jjjnettie]

John Young, on Apollo 16 had trouble with all the citrus they had to consume.
Can you imagine being locked up in a space capsule for 9 months, one way, with someone having the same problem???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuv6TVv0r44

[Ric]

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Good one Peter, just add some cabbage and we'll cut the trip down to about a month. :lol:

[DavidTrap]

I thought a lot of the astronauts ended up with diarrhoea on the return trip from the moon. Read something about it where they were describing the processes involved in going to the toilet in zero gravity.

DT

[Scopie]

Interplanetary is one of the few opportunities I'd classify as good enough to die for. If you're concerned that the food is dull then you definitely don't have the right stuff!