Also called: EVA Systems Engineer, Pressure Suit Engineer
Designs spacesuits, which are really tiny personal spacecraft with life support, cooling, and radios.
You test how a new glove design affects finger movement, run a suit in a vacuum chamber, and watch an astronaut practice moonwalking in it at a rock yard.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in mechanical, aerospace, or biomedical engineering.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Part of BLS aerospace engineers category.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps design and test suit parts; building and testing suits with real astronauts stays hands-on.
Classes: AP Physics, Anatomy, CAD class, Sewing or textiles.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2011.
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