QUESTION:
How well does all the research, training, experimentation, and education
prepare for the true-to-life experiences of space exploration?  What
significant experiences were you unprepared for when you first became a member
of the Mars team?

ANSWER from Rich Hogen on May 4, 2000:
There are a great many roles involved in design, development, operations
development and flight operations, accomodating different tasks, experience
levels, etc. all the way through personal styles.  I suspect that answers to
your question can not be generalized, especially since the industry changes
over time and with each mission.  In the current climate, there is very
little training other than OJT (on-the-job training), and there are fewer
people on the engineering side of the fence with a science background than
one might expect.

Any combination of experiences which provide a solid foundation in the
specialty of your choice (by the way, "generalist" is a specialty called
"system engineer") will work, and that course depends on your innate
talents, your interests, your style, and of course your discipline and
motivation.  There are a great many skills applicable to space exploration
as well as any other type of work, and many such skills are usually not
taught in classical curricula.  For example, good communication skills are
very helpful, as coordination between and among teams is a crucial aspect of
complex space mission development and operation.