When you think about careers at NASA, astronauts and engineers might be the first people who come to mind. While engineering is a huge part of what makes NASA missions possible, aerospace needs more than engineers and scientists.
Technicians, manufacturing specialists, systems operators, programmers, and many other professionals play critical roles in the aerospace industry. From the electronics inside a spacecraft to the software that helps a rover operate, every mission depends on people with different skills working together to solve complex problems.
The NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) Student Challenge gives community college students the opportunity to explore NASA mission areas and discover how their education, skills, and career pathways connect to the aerospace workforce.
NCAS is specifically designed for a wide range of students, including non-traditional learners, part-time students, Career and Technical Education (CTE) students, and those pursuing workforce credentials or transfer pathways.
Do you weld? Build? Troubleshoot? Work with electronics? Use machines or specialized tools? Enjoy figuring out how things work? Those skills matter.
NASA missions depend on skilled people who can build, test, repair, operate, and improve technical systems. There are many ways to prepare for an aerospace career, including technical credentials, CTE programs, associate degrees, and hands-on training.
The opportunities across the aerospace workforce are broader than you might think.
It could mean designing the tiny electronics inside a spacecraft or scientific instrument, developing software that helps a system operate, building mechanical components, or designing and connecting the larger systems that bring everything together. NASA hires engineers across 20 different fields, and these disciplines often work alongside technicians, specialists, programmers, and other professionals to tackle challenges across the agency’s missions.
NASA is also continuing to bring technical talent into mission-critical roles through initiatives like NASA Force, which offers early- to mid-career professionals focused 1–2 year appointments, with the possibility of extension. This work can support NASA’s upcoming missions and priorities in areas such as lunar rover operations and deep space logistics, putting technical expertise to work on some of the challenges NASA faces as we explore even further into space.
Community colleges are an important part of preparing the workforce needed across industries nationwide. With about 1,000 community colleges serving more than 9 million students across the country, according to the U.S. Department of Education, these institutions help students develop the skills and experience needed for a wide range of careers.
The future of space exploration will require people with many different backgrounds, skills, and career pathways. Whether your interests are in engineering, electronics, manufacturing, programming, systems, or another technical field, there are many ways your skills can connect to the aerospace workforce.
There isn’t just one path to NASA. What could yours look like?
Applications for the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) Student Challenge are open now and close on September 28. Visit https://nasa-ncas.org/ to register and learn more.