Missile and space systems electronic

[Chrisjames3x]

I am trying to create a career for myself to someday work with nasa or space x. I’m very interested in space and plan to get my degree in the science of air and space technology or physics. I am currently about to enlist in the Air Force and I’d like to know what job I should take to create the best stepping stone to get myself in the space field. I’d like to be 16c it’s on my list but it’s super rare and I most likely won’t get it. I’m being offered in replacement of someone a space and missile electronic maintenance job but I’m being told it has nothing to do with space and I’ll be working on only missiles. While in the service I will be getting my bachelors or masters would becoming an officer be the best route to become involved in the space program or what should I do? I understand there are computer jobs for the space force but those aren’t directed towards engineers or physics they are simply coumpter jobs. If anyone can help please contact me. I can barley get a few words out of my recruiter and he knows nothing about space force or space technology

 

[Stealth_81]

Well, first of all you’re posting in the forum for the United States Air Force Academy which is an officer-producing college. This forum really isn’t geared toward enlisted questions.

That being said, have you investigated the Academy or the Air Force ROTC programs? If you’re going to be getting a bachelors degree in a field like space or physics, then those would be a better fit than enlisting. You should look into these possibilities before enlisting. Your recruiter probably isn’t responding to you because his job is to get you to enlist.

Read through these forums and get some idea of what it takes and ask questions about things.

Stealth_81

 

[Aviator25]

I am trying to create a career for myself to someday work with nasa or space x. I’m very interested in space and plan to get my degree in the science of air and space technology or physics. I am currently about to enlist in the Air Force and I’d like to know what job I should take to create the best stepping stone to get myself in the space field. I’d like to be 16c it’s on my list but it’s super rare and I most likely won’t get it. I’m being offered in replacement of someone a space and missile electronic maintenance job but I’m being told it has nothing to do with space and I’ll be working on only missiles. While in the service I will be getting my bachelors or masters would becoming an officer be the best route to become involved in the space program or what should I do? I understand there are computer jobs for the space force but those aren’t directed towards engineers or physics they are simply coumpter jobs. If anyone can help please contact me. I can barley get a few words out of my recruiter and he knows nothing about space force or space technology

Like @Stealth_81 mentioned above, I assume not too many people here can talk in detail about enlisted careers. However, if you are interested in applying for the Air Force Academy or any other Service Academy, I think that could set you up for that career you are interested in.

Both the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy offer highly ranked Aerospace Engineering Degrees (Top #3 and Top #5 in the Nation from the US News and World Report, https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-aerospace-aeronautical-astronautical). USAFA also offers majors in Astronautical Engineering, Geospatial Science, and Space Operations as well as other engineering majors.

 

[USAFA10s]

Do you mean 1C6? Space systems ops? If so that is pretty much the only actual space ops job for enlisted, and it's now a Space Force job, not an Air Force one, so you don't want to join the AF, you want to join the Space Force. The other tangentially related ones that might be a good fit are geospatial intel and fusion analysis (1N1 and 3D1) - these are space force jobs that don't run ops, but USE the info that comes from space. Some of this experience might be relevant for NASA, and it would get you decent exposure to the space community as well.

That said, enlisting is probably not the ideal path since the majority of the space focused careers that would translate well (with the exception of 1C6) are officer positions, but even then it's only really a small subset of them and they are mostly Space Force now (I'm an exception- I am a 61D, scientist/physicist and I work on space related stuff all the time). The majority of the officer jobs are either space acquisitions/program management (managing projects that have to do with developing, testing, buying and launching satellites), or the officer version of 1C6 - space ops officer, 13S. For the acquisitions, just note that most officers don't actually do science, they often lead teams of scientists and programs.

 

[2026]

Do you mean 1C6? Space systems ops? If so that is pretty much the only actual space ops job for enlisted, and it's now a Space Force job, not an Air Force one, so you don't want to join the AF, you want to join the Space Force. The other tangentially related ones that might be a good fit are geospatial intel and fusion analysis (1N1 and 3D1) - these are space force jobs that don't run ops, but USE the info that comes from space. Some of this experience might be relevant for NASA, and it would get you decent exposure to the space community as well.

That said, enlisting is probably not the ideal path since the majority of the space focused careers that would translate well (with the exception of 1C6) are officer positions, but even then it's only really a small subset of them and they are mostly Space Force now (I'm an exception- I am a 61D, scientist/physicist and I work on space related stuff all the time). The majority of the officer jobs are either space acquisitions/program management (managing projects that have to do with developing, testing, buying and launching satellites), or the officer version of 1C6 - space ops officer, 13S. For the acquisitions, just note that most officers don't actually do science, they often lead teams of scientists and programs.

Good morning! I found your post very insightful.....thank you!

I sent you a PM. Thank you in advance for your response.

 

[OldRetSWO]

Do you mean 1C6? Space systems ops? If so that is pretty much the only actual space ops job for enlisted, and it's now a Space Force job, not an Air Force one, so you don't want to join the AF, you want to join the Space Force. The other tangentially related ones that might be a good fit are geospatial intel and fusion analysis (1N1 and 3D1) - these are space force jobs that don't run ops, but USE the info that comes from space. Some of this experience might be relevant for NASA, and it would get you decent exposure to the space community as well.

That said, enlisting is probably not the ideal path since the majority of the space focused careers that would translate well (with the exception of 1C6) are officer positions, but even then it's only really a small subset of them and they are mostly Space Force now (I'm an exception- I am a 61D, scientist/physicist and I work on space related stuff all the time). The majority of the officer jobs are either space acquisitions/program management (managing projects that have to do with developing, testing, buying and launching satellites), or the officer version of 1C6 - space ops officer, 13S. For the acquisitions, just note that most officers don't actually do science, they often lead teams of scientists and programs.

For what its worth, if you're interested in the actual hardware design and fabrication, much of that is done by contractors and subcontractors and given that I worked on some of the pieces that have flown/continue to fly, I can tell you that the vast majority were good to great Engineers from disciplines that are NOT Astro/Aero. One example is in the Navigation and Guidance world where I can assure you that it was a mix of Electrical, Mechanical, Systems and other engineers and that was the case for both conventional inertial systems as well as strapdown inertials. The same thing (but different disciplines) for the Comm systems and a wide variety of other "stuff" and that does not even begin to scratch the surface of things like the payloads such as multispectral imaging, etc.
The way in to that world is to find an Engineering Field that you are well suited to and DO THAT and then work your way to the right companies.