NASA's shuttle program may be defunct, but the next generation of spaceflight is on the horizon – and there will be plenty of jobs to go around
Growing up in Costa Rica, Melania Guerra always dreamed of following in the footsteps of NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz, a national hero. She set her goal, studied mechanical engineering, and then got Chang-Diaz to take her on as an intern at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
But Guerra's dream ended in 2004, before she had even finished her internship, when President Bush announced plans to cancel the shuttle program. "I had to look at what my dreams had been, and adapt," she says. Searching for something that could offer a similar sense of adventure and discovery, Guerra turned to oceanography. She now works in extreme environments such as the frigid Chukchi Sea between Alaska and Siberia, gauging the effect of underwater ambient noise on marine mammals.
They're going to have to do a hell of a lot more than just "aim." To read more, click here.