9 year old job applicant

Screengrab via NASA

NASA sends an inspiring reply to a 9-year-old job applicant

This fourth grader is ready to save the galaxy.

 

Nahila Bonfiglio

Parsec

Posted on Aug 7, 2017   Updated on May 22, 2021, 9:23 pm CDT

Fourth-grader and self-proclaimed “guardian of the galaxy” Jack Davis has tossed his hat in the ring for a coveted new job at NASA. While the space agency isn’t quite ready to sign Jack up, it sent him a very cute note in response to his application.

The 9-year-old New Jersey resident penned the hand-written letter to inquire after the position of “planetary protection officer,” which NASA recently advertised as being available.

“I may be nine but I think I would be fit for the job,” Jack wrote. “One of the reasons is my sister says I am an alien.”

Davis’s list of qualifications does not end there. He explains that he has also seen Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and hopes to see Men in Black soon.

“I am young, so I can learn to think like an alien,” Davis concluded, before signing his letter from “Jack Davis, Guardian of the Galaxy, fourth grade.”

NASA responded to the letter with one of their own, written by James L. Green, the director of the Planetary Science Division.

“Out 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,” Green wrote.

He commended Davis for his interest in the position and encouraged him to do well in school. Davis also got a call from NASA’s planetary research director, who thanked him for his letter.

“At NASA, we love to teach kids about space and inspire them to be the next generation of explorers,” Green said in a statement on the NASA website. “Think of it as a gravity assist—a boost that may positively and forever change a person’s course in life, and our footprint in the universe.”

Davis may not be ready to work at NASA yet, but the ambitious fourth-grader may well become a planetary protector in the future.

H/T The Austin American Statesman

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*First Published: Aug 7, 2017, 2:02 pm CDT