Dream Job Alert: NASA Will Pay You $19K To Stay In Bed For Two Months
If lounging in bed for days on end sounds like your idea of a dream job, then brace yourself: NASA is paying people to stay in bed for two months straight. According to Forbes, NASA and the European Space Agency want 24 people – 12 men and 12 women – who are willing to stay in bed so they can study the impact on the human body.
If you’re asking yourself, “what’s the catch,” as you might expect, there are some big ones. First of all, you need to speak German and be between the ages of 24 and 55. You’ll have to endure 15 days of “familiarization,” then 60 days of bed rest and then 14 days of rehab where you get ramped up back up for real life.
Not only that, but you don’t get to just hang out in your room and binge watch Queer Eye. You will be in a room in a research facility and everything you do – and we mean everything – will happen in bed. That includes “eating, washing, showering, going to the toilet, leisure activities.” And your bed will be tilted slightly to make the blood pool in your upper body.
Still up for it? You’ll also have to submit to poking and prodding the entire time, and if the word centrifuge makes your head spin, then consider another job opportunity. If you’re still game after all that, you may be just what NASA is looking for, and the people who have participated in the research in the past have positive things to say about their experience.
“Participation in the study was a very special and good experience for me. Who can say, ‘I participated in a study for NASA?’ This also impresses with job interviews,” said Janja, who participated in 2017, according to the study’s DLR website.
“Through my many years of experience in recruitment and study, I know that almost all subjects have recorded the study participation as a unique experience. Many have applied again in subsequent studies,” says Andrea Nitsche, who does recruitment for the program.
NASA will pay you $19,000 to stay in bed — and be spun in a centrifuge https://t.co/0LwfQH5pFq pic.twitter.com/qsonw0S33G
— CNET (@CNET) March 31, 2019
The point of the program is to determine what weightlessness does to the human body.
“Based on the study results, scientists are developing countermeasures that reduce the negative effects of weightlessness on astronauts,” the website says.
The researchers are sweetening the deal by letting participants know that meals won’t be “extra healthy” and there will be pancakes and other sweets involved.
If you found like you’ve found your calling in life, you can apply to be part of the study, which will take place from September to December 2019, on the website.
