Late '60s ad for space jobs at NASA JPL

A late-1960s ad that ran in Scientific American, scanned and shared in the Boing Boing Flickr pool by fdecomite.

The look is true to Mad Men, and the copy is true to life: I bet the Mars Curiosity team say stuff like that to each other all the time.

Give that dude a mohawk—oh, and increase NASA's budget so JPL can hire, instead of lay off?—and the ad could run today.

• [mrfixitrick]

  Flaming, burning rockets no longer give me that science-fiction sense of wonder. With new plasma-based field technology, the days of  chemical combustion as a means of propulsion have come to an end.

  The new paradigm is Jetson-like hovering vehicles that have no wings or propellors, accelerating instantly  by magnetic-gravitational fields. With no burning or pollution.

  To glimpse a future that reinvigorates that precious sense of sci-fi wonder we had, check out this new Keshe Foundation intro video…
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrN99RELqwo

  • [desiredusername]

    There are a lot of cool applications of plasma physics currently being researched that are also abundantly detailed on Wikipedia, but Keshe’s soda bottle isn’t mentioned as one of them. That video instills a different kind of wonder for me and it’s not reinvigorating.

  • [Grey Eyed Man of Destiny]

    I have a hard time believing a foundation that has discovered the future of propulsion (and “health systems”) hasn’t yet mastered how to make an info-vid more convincing than your average herbal male enhancement ad. And a cola bottle with a multimeter? Really?

    (but cool JPL ad. And no need for a mohawk!)

  • [Preston Sturges]

    “I can’t come to the phone right now because I’m probably sitting in the orgone box.”

  • [Ian Bruce 伊恩·布鲁斯]

    I love keshe! Spinach and mushroom is my favorite, but I like the classic Keshe Lorraine as well. I’m not familiar with the anti-gravity version, however. How does that work? Whipping the egg whites separately? 

• [Sagodjur]

  I’ve always been more into cyberpunk and earth-bound science fiction. I think we’ll see a world closer to SeaQuest (the 1st season) or Neuromancer sooner than we will see a world like Star Trek. Computing technology is infinitely more accessible to everyday people than interstellar travel can be.

  • [Mark Dow]

    Every few days I can download new stereo photos from Gale Crater. Kids can speculate and make inferences about Martian geology or Jovian dynamics along with the best and brightest. [Why are there so many pyramidal shaped boulders at Bradbury Landing?] Through computing technology interplanetary travel is here, now.

    [Edit: Five more stereo pairs today.]

• [Teller]

  That close-cut Futura has Jay Chiat all over it.

• [complicatedcrustation]

  This is wonderful! A perfect example of both ad copy of the time and the dreams of a nation. Thank you so much for posting this! A treasure!

• [MauiJerry]

  Great find Xeni!!
  The copy gives me great inspiration for calls to action for SpaceGAMBIT.org

• [Dimitrios Papagiannis]

  I just applied for a media job over at JPL.  If I get in, I’ll see if we can have you on as a special guest, or at least with your permission we can use your beautiful bald head as a visual aid for planetary exploration.

  Oh and one more off topic thing.  I actually don’t think Mike is dead (Br).

• [Haroun]

  Why does that earpiece make him look like a rocket scientist & my (& everyone else’s) bluetooth makes me look like a dickhead?

  • [Preston Sturges]

    Bluetooth = Ear mullet

• [pjcamp]

  I thought Napoleon Solo worked for U.N.C.L.E.

• [william jaspers]

  Updated, now with more #BOBAK! https://twitter.com/wj4/status/242124835411607552/photo/1

• [Preston Sturges]

  “Brylcreem a little dab’ll do ya!”