Last week, we told you about the fancy new job going over at NASA: the role of Interplanetary Protection Officer. Essentially a job working alongside Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, you’ll be in charge of preventing the earth from becoming contaminated by outer space microbes. Of course, with a badass job on the plate like that, NASA had primed themselves for a deluge of applications (including one from me – I just sent a video of me setting fire to a blow-up alien I won down the funfair), and it seems they’re making a good effort to reply to all of them (still waiting on mine, weirdly).
One application they responded to was from nine-year-old Jack Davis, who confidently put his best foot forward and went for the job. Here’s his admittedly strong application:
In case you can’t read his frankly terrible handwriting, here’s the letter in full:
Dear NASA,
My name is Jack Davis and I would like to apply for the planetary protection officer job," Jack said in a hand-written application. "I may be nine but think I would be fit for the job.
One of the reasons is my sister says I am an alien also I have seen almost all the space and alien movies I can see.
I have also seen the show Marvel Agents of Shield and hope to see the movie Men in Black.
I am great at video games.
I am young, so I can learn to think like an Alien.
Sincerely,
Jack Davis
Guardian of the Galaxy
Fourth Grade
Unfortunately, he’s made his first mistake by admitting that he might be an alien, when the entire point of the role is to prevent alien contamination – one sneeze from him and everyone will be off for weeks.
Either way, NASA responded, and without expressly saying no, they gave ole Jack some future hope:
Again, here’s the text in full:
Dear Jack,
I hear you are a 'Guardian of the Galaxy' and that you're interested in being a NASA Planetary Protection Officer. That's great!
Our Planetary Protection Officer position is really cool and is very important work. It's about protecting Earth from tiny microbes when we bring back samples from the Moon, asteroids and Mars. It's also about protecting other planets and moons from our germs as we responsibly explore the Solar System.
We are always looking for bright future scientists and engineers to help us, so I hope you will study hard and do well in school. We hope to see you here at NASA one of these days!
Sincerely,
Dr. James L. Green
Director, Planetary Science Division
I mean, not the answer that Jack probably wanted, but an answer all the same. Props to you, NASA, but you made the correct decision – he hasn’t even seen Men In Black.
(Images: Pexels/NASA)
