NASA is now in the business of sending awesomely encouraging letters to 7-year-old aspiring astronauts.
In a letter addressed to NASA, 7-year-old Dexter Walters volunteers to take on the agency’s first manned mission to Mars. Walters writes:
“I heard that you are sending two people to Mars and I would like to come, but I’m 7, so I can’t. I would like to come in the future. What do I need to do to become an astronaut?”
While a lot of 7-year-old children want to be astronauts, not all of them receive a NASA letter that encourages them to one day join the agency. NASA Public Communications Center loved little Dexter’s sincere letter, so they wrote back:
“NASA wants you to know that your thoughts and ideas to further space exploration are important, and we hope that you will continue to learn all you can about NASA’s space programs, missions, and accomplishments. Just think – in a few years, you could be one of the pioneers that may help lead the world’s activities for better understanding of our earth and for exploring space.”
The letter is a vastly different approach than the space agency took in 1962. That letter which surfaced on Shine today revealed an aspiring female astronaut who was told by NASA that it does not have an “existing program concerning women astronauts nor do we contemplate any such plan.”
Fifty years sure has made a difference in NASA’s thinking as female and male astronauts now share space aboard the International Space Station and 7-year-old boys receive personal responses in response to their letters.
A NASA employee on Reddit says employees at the space agency LOVE these types of letters:
“I work at NASA HQ in DC and whenever I visit the Public Outreach people, they have scans of these letters pinned to their cubicles. NASA eats this stuff up because it reinforces the idea they they are doing good work. I hope Dexter follows the dream and he gets to go where so few have.”
Dexter Walters has a long way to go before he becomes an astronaut, but now he has his very own NASA letter he can look at every single time he needs some encouragement.
Here are the two letters that were exchanged between Dexter and the space agency:
Are you impressed with the NASA letter and the agencies attempts to be more sociable with its fans?
