No doubt, Astronaut is the best job in the world

Hamilton island, Australia

I have come across many blog entries about - the best job in the world…!!!!

"the best job in the world" refers to - a one vacancy only - 6 months work as a "caretaker" on Hamilton Island in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

The job or rather “paid to enjoy free holiday in paradise” offers a very handsome pay of nearly £70,000 or RM 490,000.

Plus additional bonus of being offered a rent-free 3-bedroom villa, complete with pool and other state facilities (I don’t know wether you can bring your lover, wife or husband too) hehehe.

The successful applicant is expected to spend the 6-month contract exploring the breath taking surroundings, filing weekly blog, photo diary and video updates and conducting "ongoing media interviews". (no sweat dude)

Damn, what a job……. I am sure there are already about 10 million applicants, jostling and grimacing to compete for the Free Paid Holiday…

But wait a second - that is not the best job in the world…. Not yet baby…

To me, the best job in the world is those done by the likes of Robert “Hoot” Gibson, Franklin Ramon Chang-Diaz, Jerry Lynn Ross, Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin and 400 other selected lucky ones.


I am sure many of us knew Neil Armstrong – well Armstrong, now 78 years old is the first person to set foot on the Moon on 21 July 1969.

Immediately after setting foot on Moon, He uttered the most famous and legendary quote - "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Armstrong first spaceflight was aboard Gemini 8 in 1966, for which he was the command pilot.
Appolo 11 mission crews

His last and second spaceflight was as mission commander of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission.

Altogether Armstrong spent 8 days, 14 hours and 12 minutes in space.

And who the hell is Robert “Hoot Gibson” ??

Well this guy spent an astonishing 36 days 4 hours and 15 minutes in space – and that is 28 days (or almost 1 month) longer than Neil Armstrong…!!!!

Robert "Hoot" Gibson posing with an aspiring astronaut from Sabah...

Gibson went to space 5 times, I repeat 5 times… over a period of 11 years from 1984 to 1995…!!!

Atlantis docked to Mir

His last mission was as commander of Atlantis Space Shuttle and docked with the Russian Space Shuttle – Mir.

After retirement, he became pilot for a commercial airlines.

Well, done with Armstrong and Gibson, then who on earth are Franklin Ramon Chang-Diaz and Jerry Lynn Ross?????

Franklin Ramon Diaz (66 days in space..!!)

Franklin Ramón Chang-Díaz, now 59 is a Costa Rican-American.

What make him so special????

Well, Franklin Ramon Chang-Diaz is a veteran of 7, I repeat 7 Space Shuttle missions – between 1986 to 2002 as NASA astronaut.

Altogether he spent a total of 66 days, 18 hours and 16 minutes in space….!!!!!!!!!!(that is more than 2 months!!!!)

And this beyond comparable feat makes him the joint record holder for most spaceflights.

Why joint record holder ???

Jerry Lynn Ross (7 times to space..!!)

Because Jerry Lynn Ross also flew 7 times in Space Shuttle missions as NASA astronaut, did it between 1980 and 2002, altogether spending 58 days and 52 minutes in space.

Why I said being an astronaut is the best job in the world??

Well, it is because not many of us have experienced life outside the earth atmosphere….

Not even President Bush, President Obama, Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin, Sarah Palin, Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman have done so.

It is estimated that only slightly more than 450 people have been into space since the first manned space flight by Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

And that is only 0.00000007 % in terms of ratio as compared to the present 6.7 billion population of the world..

The ISS, International Space Station

And that means the chances of us travelling in space, or flying in a Space Shuttle, or set foot on the moon, do the Space Walk or Moon Walk (sorry Michael Jackson) or dine at the ISS – International Space Station, is less than the probability of striking the Jackpot Lottery Bonanza or being struck by lightning twice…

Or in an easier term it is the same as - Probabilty of an event occuring equals to the probabilty that it will never occur ….

Or as difficult as finding the correct answer to the Question – “what is the internal angle of regular undecagon” which has not been answered by Einstien himself!!!

However, I am sure many of us have set foot on this so called Hamilton Island, or Sipadan island or the Carribean, or Borneo Island, or Mamutik Island or Fantasy Island..!!

And you know, these lucky astronauts not only created history and gained instant worldwide fame… but they also traveled into space FREE OF CHARGE…!!!

But if you still want to go to space as tourist, you have to pay about USD 20 to 25 Million Dollars for a return trip (you obviously need to return to dear planet Earth)…!!!

So far, Space Adventures remains the only company to have sent paying passengers to space via Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Space Adventures facilitated the flights for the world's first private space explorers: Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and Charles Simonyi.

Tito, Shuttleworth and Olsen paid in excess of $20 million (USD) each for their 10-day visit to the ISS, International Space Station.

Tito became the first "fee-paying" space tourist when he visited the ISS for 7 days on 28 April 2001.

South African Space Tourist - Mark Shuttleworth

(the Shuttle trip was worth it, don't you agree Mr Shuttleworth??)

The second space tourist was South African computer millionaire Shuttleworth in 2002.
The third was Olsen in 2005.

As of 2008, 6 space tourists visited the ISS and guess what – you can even get married abroad the ISS if you want to and if you can afford it!!

Yuri Malenchenko - Gibson calls him "The Astronaut who never smiles...!!!!

In fact the ISS was the location for the "first space wedding” when Russian astronaut (or rather cosmonaut) Yuri Malenchenko, flying Expedition 7, married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, who was in Texas at that time...

So tell me… what is the best job in the world – A caretaker at Hamilton Island, Australia or an Astronaut….???????