I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s, during the time of the Apollo missions, so I wanted to grow up to be an astronaut, as did lots of other children at the time.

Since the space programs of today don't get as much news coverage as they did in those days, I was wondering if children today even think about being astronauts when they grow up.

What do they want to be when they grow up?

That's an excellent question. I was around high schoolers for four years and I never heard one say they wanted to be an astronaut. A lot of the kids I heard talk about their futures were more practical, things like nursing, child care, teacher, engineer, computer programmer, and psychologist. Others were entering law enforcement and the military. A few were entering bible college. And that's about it from what I've heard.

I wasn't thinking of high schoolers, but more of very young children, like around 5 years old. The age when you aren't confined by the need to do something practical.

In that case, the student I worked with was about 8 mentally and emotionally. He was fascinated with NASA and often looked at its official website for souvenirs. He bought one of their badges to get sewn on his jacket. He talked about his trip to the space center and going on a vertical ride through the solar system.

If he had the brains and the money, I have no doubt he'd want to be an astronaut. His parents had other ideas of course considering his limited abilities.