NASA OSTEM’s recruitment process is unique. I applied for a summer internship that had a start date during the summer. They received thousands of applications from the spring through Memorial Day, and hired nearly 500 interns. The recruiters sent offer letters after Independence Day, and we started in early August, ending summer break. If you applied in autumn that’s for the tenure during winter break in January to summer. Each phase has a different length. Since my contract ended after the internship, I can share more details without revealing confidential information.
Mission 1 involved working asynchronously remotely to learn about NASA. We read about space exploration, NASA’s history, mission directorates, and career paths after university. This took 5-6 weeks, during which we could work anytime by logging into our portal internally. The only mandatory meetings were orientation sessions and optional meetings with our supervisor and industry experts. This was the most flexible part, as we could still attend classes without conflicts. We also learned about NASA’s collaborations with international space agencies and smaller firms like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. Since we didn’t have to work actual shifts, the company only fired interns with a performance score below 50%. Eligibility was checked after the last day of work, and we received an email notification if we could move forward. They terminated 50 interns so we had 465 interns in the next phase. If selected, we resubmitted our resume to NASA.
In missions 2 and 3, interns must work actual shifts. The second phase is fully remote, but we follow the company’s central and eastern time zone schedule, similar to deadlines. Interns from the west coast still need to wake up early. We work from home 9/10 am to 2 pm PDT, excluding weekends, for a week. Missions 3 and 2 are each a week long, so we don’t work during holidays or finals. The second phase is the most challenging. We’re assigned to a department and broken into five colored sections by a NASA station. We still have the same supervisor and fill out paperwork with our team and do research pertaining to our role. This coincides with quarterly classes, midterms, and breaks. Our company allows us to fill out forms for excuse letters or notes from NASA for our teachers and bosses if we work other jobs. If we still have to attend class and take tests, we can call off with 24 hours’ notice. The only day we can’t call off is the last day of Mission 2, when we present our research report to NASA.
The final hurdle is notification via email and a call from NASA in the meantime after Thanksgiving to before Christmas. Each venue in the country can only accept 50-60 interns, all NASA stations and associated facilities with a grant from NASA. This is mission 3, the in-person part of my hybrid internship. It usually takes place during winter break after New Year’s or summer break before the 4th of July, depending on the tenure. This spans 10-12 locations across the nation. Only two people, including me, from our department got in from the remote portions of our job, which we were relocated to the same facility for. Each facility has interns from various institutions in that region or state. Surprisingly, we had a few East Coast students on our team. We completed this during Christmas break, which was only a week during my two-month break. It was a lot of fun. The activities vary depending on the location. The company provides food, buses, planes, hotel rooms, free swag, and a uniform. You get a certificate of completion for mission 2 and a nicer one for completing all missions on the last shift of mission 3 from your boss.
