Nasa has been praised for taking the time to reply to a young boy who applied for its Planetary Protection Officer vacancy.
The US space agency has received a lot of attention since advertising the role – one that has existed since the 1960s – given the job’s inspiring and very important sounding name.
The job listing caught the attention of self-proclaimed “guardian of the galaxy” Jack Davis, who figured he’d be pretty perfect for the role.
So, the nine-year-old sent this letter to Nasa HQ, and got a pretty great response from Nasa’s Planetary Science Director Jim Green.
Jack, who lives in New Jersey, wrote: “I may be nine but I think I would be fit for the job. One of the reasons why is my sister says I’m an alien. Also I have seen almost all the space and alien movies I can see.”
The fourth-grader also gave being “great at video games” as a reason, as well as his young age meaning he still has the time to “learn to think like an alien”.
But despite Nasa presumably receiving hundreds of letters from children throughout the year, Green took the time to write back.
“We are always looking for bright future scientists and engineers to help us, so I hope you will study hard and do well in school. We hope to see you here at Nasa one of these days!” the response said.
The agency also went a step further, getting Planetary Research Director Jonathan Rall to give Jack a ring and congratulate him on his interest in the position.
“At Nasa, we love to teach kids about space and inspire them to be the next generation of explorers,” Green said.
“Think of it as a gravity assist – a boost that may positively and forever change a person’s course in life, and our footprint in the universe.”
The correspondence has won Nasa a legion of fans online.
This is how you inspire dreams in children and what a beautiful way to go about doing so. Well done NASA!
— Marco A. Islas (@TheMarcoIslas) August 4, 2017
This!! This is why we CAN have nice things!! Keep up the great work #NASA #STEM
— Colin T (@Triben008) August 4, 2017
Presumably Rall’s call to Jack included a bit about what being a Planetary Protection Officer entails, with the letter describing the post as “cool and very important work”.
The role does include protecting Earth from alien life, as Jack suspected – but rather than the types of aliens we’re used to seeing in Hollywood films, it’s more to do with avoiding “biological contamination in human and robotic space exploration”.
Essentially, the successful candidate will be tasked with promoting responsible space exploration by preventing the microbial contamination of other planets and our own.
And if Jack studies hard, there’s no reason why one day it couldn’t be him doing that.
