Matching Veterans with NASA Citizen Science

Since after World War II, the military has been involved in space activities, with more than half of astronauts having served in the Armed Forces. Space studies and exploration inspire the future but also lead to innovative breakthroughs for life on earth. You do not have to work directly for space industries, like NASA, or join the U.S. Space Force to learn and contribute to space science. In fact, you can do it from the comfort of your home. If you are curious, keep reading.

NASA Citizen Science

NASA provides fun and unique opportunities for anyone to join their Citizen Science Projects, which currently include 38 projects covering a wide range of topics for discovery such as planetary or biological sciences. What makes these projects interesting is that you can participate in projects like classifying images of galaxies or help identify objects via images from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft that launched back in 2009. 

As a volunteer, each project outlines the objective and how you can contribute simply using a smartphone or computer. For example, if you want to hunt for new planets and planet-like objects, there’s a project for that! Currently, more than 3,800 new brown dwarfs (called “failed stars”) have been discovered, and more than 40 citizen scientist volunteers have become co-authors of published scientific papers. The projects are a global collaboration of effort.

For education students, NASA also provides internship programs through the Office of STEM Engagement. These opportunities are not just reserved for undergraduate students either. The academic levels go as high as post-doctoral research. 

Be sure to check out the Expanding the Reach of NASA Citizen Science project, which offers the opportunity to work with the leadership to expand the educational materials and projects. The registration deadline is at the end of this month for the summer 2026 term. 

Why Veterans Are a Great Fit

Many of the opportunities are well-suited for military veterans as they are closely related to military job fields like materials, data analytics, LiDAR technology, propulsion, air traffic management, flight testing, strategic communications, and so much more. 

Veterans understand the mission mindset and work well with structured objectives. Furthermore, veterans are no stranger to quickly adapting to new information, efficiently training, and working with others in distributed work environments across different time zones. 

For veterans transitioning from service or looking for another community with purpose, citizen science provides it. The space mission via citizen science projects provides a familiar feel of transferrable skills from military service such as attention to detail, teamwork, and pattern recognition through observation. 

These projects may involve identification, monitoring, and mapping, which correlate to military jobs like intelligence analysis. The best part is that whether volunteering your time or participating in an internship, veterans can engage in real-world applications of space science projects that lead to new discoveries and recognition.