Wanna save the planet? Then this job is for you!

Want to help keep Earth safe from aliens? (No, not the ones from Mexico! The ones from Outer Space!) Well, NASA has the job for you!

Yes, boys and girls, if you have always dreamed of protecting the Earth from nasty microbes -- or brain-eating space invaders -- the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has your dream job. (And you thought Men in Black was just a movie!)

While anyone, theoretically (well, anyone who is a U.S. citizen or "those who owe allegiance to the U.S."), can apply to be Planetary Protection Officer, if you want to save the planet, you need the right stuff.**

Specific technical requirements to be Planetary Protection Officer include:

1. Advanced knowledge of Planetary Protection, its requirements and mission categories. This includes demonstrated technical expertise to independently form technically sound judgments and evaluations in considerably complex situations. 

2. Demonstrated experience planning, executing, or overseeing elements of space programs of national significance. These elements include but are not limited to developing requirements, performing technical assessments, and preparing recommendations to leadership. 

3. Demonstrated skills in diplomacy that resulted in win-win solutions during extremely difficult and complex multilateral discussions. This includes building coalitions amongst organizations to achieve common goals.

[Regarding Requirement 3., I am assuming NASA wants candidates to have experience negotiating with aliens/alien governments. What a shame Sarek was a Vulcan. Though maybe Jonathan Archer or James T. Kirk is available.]

So if you like traveling to exotic places, are able to keep a secret, have x-ray vision, and can bend steel with your bare hands**, apply today! The planet needs you!

(Btw, the gig pays between $124,406 to $187,000, not too shabby. Though, on second thought, considering you may be keeping the planet safe from total annihilation, I think it's a bit low.)

* Or figure out how to get Congress to impeach Donald Trump.
** I made those last two up.

Talk about a hair-raising experience!

For those of you who have ever groused about having just washed your hair and not being able to do a thing with it, check out this great video from astronaut Karen Nyberg on how she washes her hair while on the International Space Station.



[H/T BusinessInsider.com]

Talk about a hair-raising experience.

Personally, I would have cut my hair before going into outer space. It would have certainly saved on aggravation and water. But I'm no rocket scientist.

[The spouse watched the video, titled "Inside the ISS - Hair Raising Hygiene!" with me. He liked it, but he still thinks astronaut Chris Hadfield's video cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," filmed on board the International Space Station, is better. And I have to agree. Though thank you, Karen Nyberg, for answering that (rocket) age-old question, How do you wash your hair in space? Now if only some enterprising astronaut could figure out how to get a cat aboard the ISS and film it....]

Best David Bowie cover ever (Astronaut sings "Space Oddity" in space!)

Here he is, sitting in his tin can far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing he can do...
except make a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," apparently.

For those who haven't seen astronaut Chris Hadfield's cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," which he recorded on the International Space Station, here you go.



This is ground control to Colonel Chris. You've really made the grade.

Best cover of a David Bowie song EVER.

LMFAO + NASA = Latest YouTube hit

Houston, we have a video.

Presenting "We're NASA and we know it" -- or what happens when a bunch of Mars happy geeks do a parody of LMFAO's "I'm sexy and I know it," featuring the Mars Curiosity rover and video of Mars.



Crane lower that rover.

Space... the final frontier

On this day, August 20, 33 years ago (or 1977 for those of you who have trouble with subtraction), NASA launched Voyager 2. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no spacecraft has gone before.

And while Voyager 2 has yet to find new life or new civilizations (at least as far as we know), it has found a lot of other really stellar stuff (including rings around Jupiter and new moons around Uranus*) over the course of its 21 billion kilometer voyage. And it has sent back some out of this world pictures, like this one of Saturn and its moons (Dione front; Tethys; Mimas right; Enceladus; Rhea left; and Titan distant top**).

















*Please feel free to share your "moon" and "Uranus" jokes in the comments. I have not had any coffee yet and am not feeling particularly witty or creative.

**To see more Voyager photos, check out the Voyager Images gallery on the NASA JPL site.