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NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Overview

Industry
Aerospace & Defense
Revenue
Headquarters
Employees
17,373
Founded In
Website
Organization Type
Government
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NASA is a technology company focusing on civil space programs, aeronautics research, and space research. Founded in 1958 as an independent agency of the US federal government, it plays a crucial role in advancing our understanding of the universe and pushing the boundaries of human exploration.

With headquarters in Washington, DC, NASA employs over 17,000 individuals from diverse demographic backgrounds. The organization prides itself on its inclusive workforce, which is 35% female employees and 45.4% ethnic minorities. Despite the lack of political diversity, NASA boasts excellent employee retention with staff members typically staying for 4.1 years. The annual revenue of this industry leader amounts to $980 million, further solidifying its position as a prominent force in the realm of technology and space exploration.

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Mission Statement

NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery. Core values: we share a set of core values - safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, inclusion - and they are evident in all that we do.

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4.5/5

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration employee reviews

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NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration employee reviews

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration employee reviews
4.5/5

Based On 24 Ratings

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Employee Reviews
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3.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2023
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

all the free food and very good people which indicates their well being

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

traveling to space a lot / a lot of tech time / no sleep / space food

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

free food very good / free living / dorms / can get my family with me

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4.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2023
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

Salary, bonuses, benefits and other perks!

Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Salary, benefits, bonuses, benefits!

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2023
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

manual labor, child labor, Chinese child labor, etc

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

the pay is really high i dont like it i dont like the pay its very high.

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

idk

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2023
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

People, benefits, work life balance

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Politics, non team players

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

Telework/Remote work, leave

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2023
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

I love Space and i would make a lot of money

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Having to move

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

Working with computers and technoligy

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2021
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

i like the environment and the professionals i worked with

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

i don't like the regimented schedule and life

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

i aquired more knowledge

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on May 2021
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

salaries paid are good

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

time

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

health my place of residence is far from a health center

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4.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2021
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

There are channeling problems to solve everyday.

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The need for internal competitiveness and alway looking over your shoulder to avoid getting "scooped".

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

Travel for field expeditions in the Western US and abroad.

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2020
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

I believe it is a center of innovation,

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

I am not sure,

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

When my job is successfully completed; the job could be achievable when it done inventively,

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2020
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

I got to do all type of stuff.

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Nothing, I just want something new

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

Being famous

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2020
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Flexibility

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Federal Government control

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

Flexible work hours. There is a requirement to work 40 hours a week. Does not matter how you reach it.

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2020
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Everything.

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Nothing. It is all really good.

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

Being able to go to the launch pads.

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3.0
A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019
Pros of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

It was cool going to space

Cons of working at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

I did not like throwing up in space it was gros

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Benefits

The

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
What was it like working with ex Nazis brought over in Operation Paperclip? Did you see how they were just human beings like everyone else?

Well there were virulent, Jew-hating National Socialists and there were German guys who joined the Nazi party because that was the only way they'd let them screw around with rockets.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
I'm in the process of getting my Mechanical Engineering degree. What can I do in the future to get involved with NASA?

Apply to NASA Pathways while you're a student. There's information on nasajobs.nasa.gov.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
As someone who is about to graduate high school and wants to work for NASA (or a similar company) after college, do you have any tips/pointers to help me get a foothold in the industry or just tips in general? I plan on majoring in aerospace engineering at the University of Central Florida and possibly transferring to the University of Florida after a few years. Also, what was the atmosphere like in general while you worked as NASA? Did everyone seem to genuinely enjoy their job? How often did the work you were doing feel like something you were only doing because you got paid for it?

If you want to work for NASA, apply as a student intern. NASA loves hiring them. Go to nasajobs.nasa.gov and click the Pathways links at the bottom. There's one for current openings (so keep checking back), and the other has general information about the program.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
What was the initial attraction that took you to NASA? Without their track record of going to space, how did they advertise positions?

Keep in mind when I joined up, NASA wasn't even in existence. Back then it was called "Long Range Proving Ground." I was working in Birmingham at the time, and I saw an ad in the paper for RCA jobs for a missile range in Florida. I read the article, and it said they were interviewing in a hotel here in Birmingham. So I called my wife and said I was going to apply later that day. I showed up, filled out an application, took a test. The rest is history.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
What was your favorite project to work on?

One of the things that impressed me the most is how one program would dovetail into another. Everything had a purpose. And when that purpose was accomplished, to see it turn right into another was really neat. I really had fun. One time, we had an air breathing missile dropped from a plane out in the Atlantic. It had no destruct package on it. It was the only missile I could recall that had no destruct package. So we called in F86's in to follow the missile in case it went off course. They were to shoot it down. This was the only time I ever vectored a fighter plane. It was really exciting. It was one of those jobs where they said: "Here's what you have to do. Now go figure out a way to do it."

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
Mr. Cochran, how did the systems track the relative orientation of the craft? I understand that in aviation gyroscopes can be reset in extreme turns. I'm very interested in the on-board/ground control operation. Do you know how maneuvers are conducted? Is the vector continually corrected or intermittently corrected?

I really don't have knowledge on the avionics side. My background was in radar and wireless communications. That was my job for Range Safety. The closest I came to navigation at the cape was when I worked to adjust compasses for aircraft, but they were all magnetic.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
What were your interoffice relationships like with your coworkers given the gravity of what you guys were trying to accomplish?

Relationships were very, very good. We had people that weren't so technically apt, not like we needed them to be, of course. We had one guy that used a hammer to put in a $1000 lamp into a system. Just an example. And that was frustrating, when people operated like a bull in a china shop.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
I'm currently 17 years old and looking into becoming an astrophysicist and pursuing a career with the ESA or NASA. What advice could you give to someone like me in what classes to choose while in secondary school and how to be even more prepared for and after college?

(Grandson: He humbly laughs.) Study, study, study. And then study some more.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
It is difficult to comprehend all of the variables involved in getting men to the moon. NASA must have been a chaotic beehive full of the most brilliant people. within that massive symphony of thought, there must have been people who disagree'd with major engineering decisions. Do you have any examples of engineers going against the grain?

I really wasn't exposed to that level, really. Keep in mind, I worked for RCA, so we were often told what to according to their guidelines and specs.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
What do you think about the rocket company, SpaceX?

Seems like they are doing a great job, in my opinion. I don't read the paper much anymore. But I see it on TV and I think it is wonderful. I've been away long enough to not have much inside knowledge.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
1) Did you work with Homer Hickman? What was he like? 2) What was it like to have to help the Apollo 13 mission? 3) Does NASA and/or you believe that one day we will make contact with alien races? Thanks so much for your time and service! :)

1. I'm sorry I don't know Homer Hickman. I know who he was, but never had any sort of interaction with him. 2. To me, it was successful because it got off the ground. That was my job. For NASA, it was a disaster. But for NASA to get those men back home, it became successful all over again. 3. I have no idea. (laughter.)

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
How was a normal working day?

Working day with no launch: My job was to ensure equipment was in good shape for the next launch. Very procedural. Working day with launch: Filled with checks and tests being done on a very rigid schedule. Everything had to be done at an exact time with certain checking being done and done successfully. They had to be done at the exact right time to fit in with the launch itself. There were times we couldn't test for things if the 'bird' wasn't in configuration for it. So we had very narrow windows to test for things. Otherwise, we'd set off bells and sirens across the area.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
Did you find that the organisation changed in a positive or negative manner during your time working there? P.s. Do you have any contacts? I would like a Job.

I didn't know much about the politics since I wasn't that high up. But the attitudes among our fellow people I knew quite a lot. Many NASA employees didn't even know the full extent to what we were doing (in terms of missile launches, etc.) (Grandson note: He won't say more as he doesn't want to implicate. Sorry.)

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
How hard was it to get a job at NASA in the 50's compared to today?

I don't know much about today. But back in the 50's, it wasn't hard at all. I interviewed, took a short test and that was that. They sent me the whole package and a short time later, I was a contractor at RCA working for NASA. At that time, they were hiring just about anyone that showed interest and had any sort of aptitude at all. And as we grew, we had to do all the training.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
What was it like waiting 3 days for your men to get to the moon? Any trouble sleeping? Where nerves high?

I wasn't too nervous really. My part was over after they were safely off the ground and into space. My nerves were high up until that point.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
When took the job, did you think the moon landing was an actual possibility, or a crazy goal that you could only try to achieve?

When I took the job, I didn't even know a moon landing was on the table. We were just busy trying to keep the Russians at bay. It was strictly a defensive job at first. Initially it was a joint program for testing long range missiles for Army, Navy, Air Force together. In fact, before NASA, we were called the "Long Range Proving Ground". NASA came after all this.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
Thanks for doing this ama! I have 2 questions: 1- What is the most memorable point of your career? 2- What was it like working for NASA during the space race?

People forget how much testing we did for things no one had tried before. During a Navy launch, the main stage the missile came up and started cartwheeling over our building. The second stage of the missile went up and landed just a couple thousands yards away from us. The funny thing was, the press was there and quite a lot of photographers were with us at the time. At T minus 5, we turned off the radar so it wouldn't interfere with the launch. Right as the rocket went haywire and flipped end over end a message came on the radio "Take cover!" The rocket hit the ground and rocked us. It was the nearest I ever came to being hit by a missle.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
What was the atmosphere at NASA like during the moments before the moon landing? What was it like witnessing it and what were you thinking?

It was very intense. We really wondered if they were going to make it alive. It was extremely dangerous. It gave us all heart attacks. When the landing occurred, I was actually at home. We had made the launch so my duties and responsibility were over.

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A reddit user wrote a review on May 2015
How was the culture there as the history of the space race went on? Could you sense a change of attitude as time wore on? How do you feel about the cutbacks towards NASA?

It started out intense and ended up more intense. The more people we put into space, the more challenging it become, safety-wise. As for the cutbacks, I feel that we should continue all the exploration that we can. I don't know that I would cut back on anything else over priority to this.

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A reddit user wrote a review on Jul 2010
I've been a NASA civil servant for the last two and a half years, and I've had enough. I'm planning on starting to send out resumes this week. Did you feel like companies you were applying to were wowed that you had 'NASA' on your resume?

Congratulations on making the switch. Yes, definitely. It might vary depending on your field, but I would say the NASA background is a big bonus on your resume over a regular company or research organization.

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A reddit user wrote a review on Jul 2010
How easy is it to start your own projects at NASA? If you came up with new ideas, were you given support? Or did you really have to stick to completing the jobs handed down from up top?

It was not easy to start my own projects. For example, at one point I created a new testing framework for our large software project that had literally zero tests. It was ignored by management because they didn't really understand what testing is or what the benefits were. During my time there I never wrote a proposal, but I heard from people who did that it was a horrible process. It was the norm to lie about your expected cost just to get it through approval, and you were expected to exaggerate benefits and de-exaggerate expected time.

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A reddit user wrote a review on Jul 2010
Last question, how in the world did you manage to work for such high profile employers? I have friends who would cream at the opportunities you've had. Any advice.....

NASA was my first job. I started as a summer intern while an undergrad, and they thought I did a good job, so they kept me as an intern throughout undergrad. I didn't know if I would get the internship when I first applied to NASA, since I had zero job experience, but I applied anyway. I think my internship at Google was partially accepted because I had a beefed up resume with NASA experience. So my advice is just to apply to internships even if you don't think you won't get them, because employers are more open than you'd think.

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A reddit user wrote a review on Jul 2010
How would you "fix" NASA?

I think one of the major problems (at least in the group I was working with) is that the people in charge really didn't know how to do the jobs of the people they were managing. This lead to decisions that didn't make sense, and unspoken frustration from the "underlings." For example, my manager was a physicist/meteorologist and that's really all he knew. He didn't know anything about programming. Yet, he was in charge of 10+ engineers whose main job was programming this piece of software. He would often try to make really uninformed decisions, such as which library we should be using, and because he was the manager there was no choice but to listen to him. In my opinion, the power should be in the hands of the people doing engineering, and the top-down management style should go.

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A reddit user wrote a review on Jul 2010
What will you be doing next?

I am still young, so I was lucky enough to get a paid internship at Google in Mountain View, California. That's where I am right now.

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The team at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  • The founders of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration are Dwight Eisenhower and Christopher Altman.
  • The key people at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration are Dwight Eisenhower and Christopher Altman.
Key People
Dwight Eisenhower
Christopher Altman

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Rankings

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration is ranked #11 on the Best Technology Companies to Work For in District of Columbia list. Zippia's Best Places to Work lists provide unbiased, data-based evaluations of companies. Rankings are based on government and proprietary data on salaries, company financial health, and employee diversity.

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NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration salaries

Average NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Salary
$56,998
yearly
$27.40 hourly
Updated March 14, 2024

Evaluate NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's commitment to diversity and inclusion.

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NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration diversity

9.9
Diversity Score
We calculated NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s diversity score by measuring multiple factors, including the ethnic background, gender identity, and language skills of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s workforce.
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration diversity summary. Zippia estimates NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's demographics and statistics using a database of 30 million profiles. Zippia verifies estimates with BLS, Census, and current job openings data for accuracy. We calculated NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's diversity score by measuring multiple factors, including the ethnic background, gender identity, and language skills of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's workforce.
  • NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration has 17,373 employees.
  • 35% of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration employees are women, while 65% are men.
  • The most common ethnicity at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration is White (55%).
  • 17% of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration employees are Hispanic or Latino.
  • 13% of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration employees are Black or African American.
  • The average employee at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration makes $56,998 per year.
  • NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration employees are most likely to be members of the democratic party.
  • Employees at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration stay with the company for 4.1 years on average.

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NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration is headquartered in Washington, DC

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NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Financial Performance

8.7
Performance Score

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