NASA Flight Surgeon

[alexhaxton]

Im in my first year of college right now. Actually in my math class right now lol. Not doing anything right now. Teacher isn't here. What different paths are available for eventually trying at becoming a NASA flight surgeon and going into space. My 2 loves, Space and Medicine (plus plastics too lol. Maybe do that while I try to get into nasa. But if there are different paths I can take towards NASA, that would be great to hear). If anyone has any advice, let me know.

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[alexhaxton]

Anything I can do right now or after a certain amount of years of college. Air force?

 

[i want out]

Anything I can do right now or after a certain amount of years of college. Air force?

If thats what you really want, and are dedicated to getting there, then the most accepted path, is...

Finish college with good enough grades, and MCAT's to get picked up by any medical school.

Then Join the Navy HPSP and pray that you match to the Residency in Aerospace Medicine (RAM) essentially board certified flight surgeon, but really a Preventive medicine residency.

Than apply for the space door gunner program...

Lots of chances that you won't make the cut along the way, and many of them are more based on what happens to be open in the Navy at the particular time that your up for orders, more than how much effort you put into it. Another way to put it, is that you can work as hard as you want, and if the stars don't line up, you don't get what you want.

At this point, it bears mentioning, that two of the astronauts on the Columbia when it burned in over Texas were Navy Physicians.

David M. Brown
Captain, U.S. Navy
Mission Specialist


Laurel Blair Salton Clark
Commander (Captain-Select), U.S. Navy
Mission Specialist

Note also, that Brown was 46 and Salton Clark was 41 so don't expect to just jump into the space program early in your career.

Good luck but don't do military medicine unless theres something that you like about it besides space, because your chances of making it into space are fairly low.

i want out

 

[island doc]

If you are flight qualifed, consider becoming a military pilot-physician. Get an engineering/pre-med degree while being commissioned through ROTC. Go to Military Pilot Training, do your time as high performance military aircraft pilot including a stint as a test pilot if possible, then separate, go to medical school and then apply to NASA to join the astronaut corps.

 

[militarymd]

Nasa Flight surgeons are flight surgeons who take care of Nasa pilots and astronauts.

Nasa Flight surgeons ARE NOT astronauts....mission specialists, pilots, nor educator mission specialists.

 

[i want out]

Nasa Flight surgeons are flight surgeons who take care of Nasa pilots and astronauts.

Nasa Flight surgeons ARE NOT astronauts....mission specialists, pilots, nor educator mission specialists.

Care to elaborate?

It would seem that you have some knowledge that might be interesting to know as to how the above two Navy Physicians became mission specialist's.

If memory serves correctly, one was a flight surgeon, and the other was a DMO, but I am not certain.

i want out

 

[militarymd]

Care to elaborate?

It would seem that you have some knowledge that might be interesting to know as to how the above two Navy Physicians became mission specialist's.

If memory serves correctly, one was a flight surgeon, and the other was a DMO, but I am not certain.

i want out

David Brown was a flight surgeon...actually he was a dual designator...and the gal was a DMO. Those were their jobs prior to becoming Mission Specialists for NASA....ie they are no longer functioning as flight surgeon or DMO.

Most if not all military physicians who make it through the process to become Mission Specialists for NASA were prior flight surgeons or DMOs.....I was neither.

Also, if you look at their biographies, the vast majority have no specialty training...just internship + flight surgeon training.....why? I'm not sure....you would think NASA would want fully trained folks...but that's the government for you.

If you are a civilian, you can just apply to NASA to become either a mission specialist or a pilot.

If you are military, you have to apply through your service to be nominated to NASA for consideration as either mission specialist or a pilot (I did this and was nominated by the Navy to be on the list submitted to NASA....I was declined by NASA).

 

[i want out]

David Brown was a flight surgeon...actually he was a dual designator...and the gal was a DMO. Those were their jobs prior to becoming Mission Specialists for NASA....ie they are no longer functioning as flight surgeon or DMO.

Most if not all military physicians who make it through the process to become Mission Specialists for NASA were prior flight surgeons or DMOs.....I was neither.

Also, if you look at their biographies, the vast majority have no specialty training...just internship + flight surgeon training.....why? I'm not sure....you would think NASA would want fully trained folks...but that's the government for you.

If you are a civilian, you can just apply to NASA to become either a mission specialist or a pilot.

If you are military, you have to apply through your service to be nominated to NASA for consideration as either mission specialist or a pilot (I did this and was nominated by the Navy to be on the list submitted to NASA....I was declined by NASA).

Thank You for the clarification.

I am not shooting for any of those programs, just seperation, but its interesting to know.

i want out

 

[island doc]

Scott Parzinsky (sp?) was an EM resident prior to NASA mission specialist selection. I don't know what Story Musgrave was.

 

[xTinaBna]

Im in my first year of college right now. Actually in my math class right now lol. Not doing anything right now. Teacher isn't here. What different paths are available for eventually trying at becoming a NASA flight surgeon and going into space. My 2 loves, Space and Medicine (plus plastics too lol. Maybe do that while I try to get into nasa. But if there are different paths I can take towards NASA, that would be great to hear). If anyone has any advice, let me know.

i love space and medicine too..i've always wanted to work for nasa..can you be a NASA physician without going the military route? 🙂

 

[militarymd]

i love space and medicine too..i've always wanted to work for nasa..can you be a NASA physician without going the military route? 🙂

yes, they have flight surgeon jobs....but that is not the same as being an astronaut.

 

[leumas614]

The question was never answered. How can one become a non-astronaut NASA flight surgeon? I'm guessing you would have to complete an aerospace medicine residency but how selective are they? And if you complete one are you guaranteed a job with NASA? If not what's it like to work as an aerospace doc for somewhere else, either military or civilian?

 

[orbitsurgMD]

The question was never answered. How can one become a non-astronaut NASA flight surgeon? I'm guessing you would have to complete an aerospace medicine residency but how selective are they? And if you complete one are you guaranteed a job with NASA? If not what's it like to work as an aerospace doc for somewhere else, either military or civilian?

NASA flight surgeons work as flight surgeons, just as they might in a military branch. Once at NASA, some will apply for selection to the astronaut program and if selected usually become mission specialists. They then no longer work as flight surgeons.

The vast majority of military residency trained flight surgeons--RAM-graduated physicians who do a two-year residency after internship, including an MPH degree--work in a military assignment, usually as a senior flight surgeon in an aircraft carrier battle group or at a large flightline medical clinic or at NAMI or other institutional billet. They are specialists in preventive medicine, which is a recognized specialty of the ABMS. They are expected to obtain and maintain specialty board certification in that specialty. Some others, like Dr. Jon Clark, who was a Navy flight surgeon who later worked at NASA, completed training in other fields (in his case, neurosurgery and then neurology.)

So becoming a NASA flight surgeon can allow, but doesn't require you to first go through a military flight surgeon career path. Just understand that there is a very small number of available jobs, and the astronaut mission specialist field smaller still. But someone has to do it.

As far as plastics goes, you are talking about an entirely different branch of the medical practice tree. That is one which requires a commitment to a lengthy training course first in surgery and then in plastic surgery. Becoming a plastic surgeon is competitive and somewhat self-selecting and is not something one can expect to stay proficient with while departing to become a NASA-employed flight surgeon then astronaut. Even if you did do the FS-astronaut route, that might take you several years to reach without the unrelated surgery training. So basically, it is do one or do the other, but not both.

 

[deuist]

One thing not mentioned so far is that NASA has a 4th year elective in aerospace medicine.

 

[FliteSurgn]

My USAF AMP class (6-week aerospace medicine primary course) had 3 physicians from NASA that were going to be flight surgeons. They were all board-certified civilian physicians that applied to NASA directly for the positions. They had all been in civilian practice for at least a couple of years prior to selection. One was emergency med, one was internal med, and one was family practice. Two were Americans and one was Canadian. None were doing residencies in aerospace medicine.

 

[deuist]

Did the Air Force send the NASA physicians through SERE training, too? I can't imagine space doctors' needing to escape from the enemy.

 

[FliteSurgn]

Did the Air Force send the NASA physicians through SERE training, too? I can't imagine space doctors' needing to escape from the enemy.

Yes, they had to go through the survival portion of the course as well. They made them buy BDUs to wear in the field. The guys were hoots though...they bought sombreros and wore them as their headgear. (Adorned with a nice NASA patch, of course). And when we were doing map reading, they broke out slide-rules from their cargo pockets. They wanted it to look like rocket science.