From The Nontraditional Nurse
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​March 1, 2025

Welcome to the first edition of The Next Shift. New name. Same great content. Still powered by The Nontraditional Nurse.

Each issue, we explore where nursing is headed, not just where it’s been.

This month, we’re looking beyond the bedside… and beyond the planet.

Let’s talk about nurses in space.

The Nontraditional Nurse spotlight

Today’s spotlight is on Christine Rincon — also known as “The Space Nurse.” She’s a critical care nurse who’s built her career at the intersection of nursing and aerospace, and she’s not waiting for someone to “create” space nursing. She’s actively working to make sure nurses are part of the conversation as spaceflight expands.

Christine put it best: “If what you want is not an option yet, just make yourself ready for when the door opens.”

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Key Takeaways

• Nurses already exist in space-adjacent roles, but most positions don’t include “nurse” in the title.
• Space medicine is expanding — but medical readiness isn’t keeping pace with mission ambition.
• Astronauts currently receive limited medical training, yet future missions will require longer-duration, autonomous care.
• Breaking into aerospace requires translating nursing skills into systems, data, and operational language.
• The opportunity isn’t fully built yet — which means nurses who prepare now could shape what it becomes.

Career Deep Dive

First, what even is "space nursing" right now?

The honest answer? There isn’t an official job title called “Space Nurse.” (Christine has that title as an advocate for nurses in space!)

But that doesn’t mean nurses aren’t already in the industry.

Right now, nurses in aerospace medicine are working under different titles — roles like medical operations specialist, biomedical support, risk and human performance analyst, occupational health nurse, or clinical informatics specialist. You’ll notice not all of those say “nurse,” and that’s part of the challenge. The work is happening. The recognition just hasn’t fully caught up.

Christine shared that when you look at astronaut qualifications, it literally states that nurses do not qualify because nursing is not considered a STEM major. That alone tells you there’s still a structural barrier. The door isn’t wide open. But that doesn’t mean it’s locked forever.

At the moment, most space missions operate in low Earth orbit. If something serious happens, crews can return home. Astronauts receive roughly 40–60 hours of medical training and rely on flight surgeons back on Earth for guidance. That model works when you’re relatively close to home.

But that model breaks down when you start talking about long-duration missions — the Moon, Mars, or beyond. Communication delays could stretch to 20 minutes or more. In that scenario, “call the doctor” isn’t a real-time option for a medical emergency.

And that’s where nursing becomes critical.

Space nursing right now isn’t about performing surgery in orbit. It’s about operational medicine. It’s about designing systems that keep humans healthy in extreme environments such as zero gravity. It’s about prolonged care, risk mitigation, signal interpretation, protocol development, and thinking beyond a single emergency to long-term human sustainability.

In other words, it’s not a fully formed role yet. It’s an emerging area where nursing expertise fits naturally — especially as missions move from surviving space to actually living there.

The title may not exist.

But the need is already there.
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“ “If you’re talking about going to space to live there and thrive there, I mean, you can’t do it without nurses.” — Christine Rincon

What It's Not (Yet)

Before we get carried away, let’s level-set.

Space nursing is not a formal, defined clinical role that you can apply for tomorrow. There’s no standard certification specific to space nursing (yet). And there isn’t a clear, established pipeline that takes you from ICU to orbit.

Therefore, this isn’t a quick bedside exit strategy. If space is something that sounds very interesting to you, there are ways to learn more and integrate yourself into the space community so that you can create opportunities or be ready when they become available!
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It’s early. It’s evolving. It’s nurses advocating to be included before the structure is built. It’s positioning yourself in emerging conversations. It’s helping shape what the role could become.
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Let's chat more about what that looks like.

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Perks of Being Early in an Emerging Field

There’s something powerful about being early.

You’re not stepping into a rigid job description. You’re helping shape it.

In a field like aerospace medicine, where nursing isn’t yet fully integrated, early adopters have the opportunity to influence how the role develops. That means contributing to conversations about medical protocols, prolonged care models, operational workflows, and risk mitigation before those systems are locked in.

You’re not competing in a saturated space. You’re building credibility in a new one.

Being early also means you get to learn alongside the industry. As commercial space expands, as missions extend beyond low Earth orbit, and as human performance becomes a bigger focus, nurses who are already involved will be positioned as subject matter experts.

And maybe most importantly, you’re stretching your own thinking.

Even if you never work for NASA, learning how nursing fits into aerospace forces you to translate your skills differently. It pushes you to think in systems, in data, in risk models, in human performance. That kind of perspective shift is valuable anywhere.

Being early can be uncomfortable. But it’s also where innovation happens

How to Highlight Your Skills for Aerospace

One of the biggest themes in my conversation with Christine was this: it’s not enough to have the skills. You have to translate them.

Aerospace is heavily engineering-driven. That means your resume and your conversations need to reflect systems thinking, measurable outcomes, and process improvement — not just task completion.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Instead of “provided wound care,” think in terms of outcomes and physiology. Christine gave the example of reframing “wound care” as “tissue integrity maintenance.” It sounds different because it is different — it explains the science behind what you’re doing.
• Don’t just say you were charge nurse. Explain what changed because of you. Did you reduce wait times? Improve documentation accuracy? Streamline admissions? Aerospace organizations want to know how you improved efficiency, safety, or cost.
• Engineers think in systems. Nurses do too — we just don’t always call it that. Talk about how you identified a workflow problem, analyzed root causes, and implemented a safer or more efficient solution.
• Space missions will eventually require long-duration management. ICU, trauma, flight, and high-acuity experience can show you understand complex physiology over time.
• Aerospace is collaborative. Nurses already coordinate between physicians, techs, therapists, families, and administration. That cross-functional communication is an asset.
• Informatics, quality improvement projects, EHR optimization, signal interpretation — these are potential bridges into aerospace medicine.

This isn’t about exaggerating your experience. It’s about reframing it in a language engineers understand.

Challenges

The most obvious barrier? There is no official “space nurse” role right now. If you search job boards, you won’t find it. As we mentioned before, astronaut qualification requirements currently state that nurses do not qualify because NASA does not consider nursing a STEM major. That alone tells you the system was not built with us in mind.

There’s also a cultural hurdle. Aerospace has historically been engineer-driven. Medicine is often filtered through an engineering lens — binary, measurable, optimized. As Christine mentioned, nursing operates in gray areas. We manage uncertainty. We think in systems and humans at the same time. Bridging that gap requires translation, patience, and credibility.

Another challenge is visibility. Nurses are already working in aerospace medicine, but often under titles that don’t include the word “nurse.” That can make it harder for others to see a path forward.

And then there’s the practical reality: this is long game work. There’s no fast track. No guaranteed entry point. It requires networking, positioning, and building skills that may not immediately feel “space-related.”

But here’s the thing — none of those challenges mean it’s impossible.

If You’re Intrigued, Start Here

If this conversation sparked something in you, don’t overcomplicate the first step.

You do not need to quit your job. You do not need to go back to school tomorrow. You do not need to apply to NASA next week. Start smaller. Start smarter.

• Understanding how space and microgravity affect physiology is foundational. Muscle atrophy, bone density loss, fluid shifts, radiation exposure — this is where curiosity turns into competence.
• Christine recommended joining organizations like the Aerospace Medical Association, the Organization for Space Medicine Design and Engineering (OSMED), and Women in Aerospace Medicine. There is also a Nursing and Allied Health section within the Aerospace Medical Association. These spaces allow you to learn the language, understand the gaps, and start building relationships early.
• Volunteer for quality improvement projects. Get involved in workflow redesign. Pay attention to how processes break — and how they get fixed. That skill translates directly.
• Christine emphasized networking repeatedly. LinkedIn isn’t optional in emerging industries. Reach out. Ask questions. Build relationships before you need them.
• The current model of “call Earth and bring them home” won’t hold forever. The nurses who are learning now will be ready when the model shifts.

Your laughter injection.

What did the nurse say to the rocket ship? It's time for your booster shot

Thanks for reading.

This newsletter is built for you — and I’d love to know what’s landing, what you’d like more of, or what could make it even better. Just hit reply and let me know. I read every message.

Appreciate you being here,

Ellie