cbirkinbine

Do you think that already working as a NASA Civil Servant gives any sort of benefit/advantage to astronaut applications over others, and does the position utilize any sort of veteran preference for hiring?

There is always a fight between piloted return vehicles and automated, and a lot of the times it seems like Astro-pilots arguments are centered around "because I want to fly". That being said, there have been specific incidents, such as with Apollo 13, in which having a manned pilot capability has been the difference between survival and not. So keeping this in mind - manned descent or automated?

During the 2 years of astronaut training,I know that time is spent on language, environment training, and specific systems training, but how much time is spent on general engineering concepts, specifically for those who's background are say medical, or geology, etc. Does the training bring them up to speed with their counterparts who have more of an engineering background?

I've read that there is a reverse correlation between how sea/motion sick astronauts get on earth and how bad SAS is for them, would you guys say this is true for you?

Will any of you write me a letter of recommendation to submit with my application in December? :D (..and would that even help?)