Vikings QB Joshua Dobbs makes it cool to be a NASA ‘nerd’

For Minnesota Vikings fans, the introduction of 28-year-old journeyman quarterback Joshua Dobbs these past coupleof weeks hasactually been amazing to watch, not to reference fodder for a fresh round of memes, the look of space-suit-themed clothing in the stands and the trend over the coolest brand-new label in football: “The Passtronaut.”

But for NASA, Dobbs’ meteoric increase hasactually developed a various kind of buzz. And while “The Joshua Dobbs Effect” may not be an real clinical finding, there is some proof that Dobbs, a quarterback and aerospace engineer who is now 2-1 with the Vikings heading into Monday night’s videogame versus the Chicago Bears, hasactually created a wave of brand-new enjoyment — in science.

When NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio published about Dobbs on X in early November, user engagement skyrocketed. The post got more than 3 million views, and the account’s fans increased by 216% compared to the previous week’s gain. In 2022, the center stated, the average number of engagements per post was 176.

And consideringthat Nov. 5, when Dobbs stepped in for hurt novice backup Jaren Hall and directed the Vikings to a 31-28 win at Atlanta, U.S. searches for expressions such as “Is Josh Dobbs an astronaut” and “Josh Dobbs NASA” have increased, according to Google Trends.

Those in the area company haveactually taken notification.

“Nerds are cool,” stated Scott Colloredo, director of engineering at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “Josh hasactually made engineering cool. We desire to trip this wave as long as we can.”

Though he isn’t an astronaut yet, Dobbs has stated openly that he desires to go to area. If he does, he wouldn’t be the veryfirst expert football gamer turned NASA researcher to do so. That honor goes to Leland Melvin, who finished in 1986 from the University of Richmond with a degree in chemistry. The Detroit Lions picked him in the 11th round of the draft that year.

Melvin suffered duplicated injuries and ultimately was traded to and then launched by the Dallas Cowboys in 1987 before ever playing in a routine season NFL videogame. That’s when he chose to focus on his “fallback” profession as a NASA researcher, ultimately endingupbeing an astronaut.

“When I was growing up, some of the instructors stated, ‘You can either be a jock, or you can either be a researcher or engineer.’ And individuals puton’t see that you can do both,” Melvin stated. “It’s simply effective and stunning to see this right now.”

After his brief professional football profession, Melvin continued his researchstudies, finishing from the University of Virginia in 1991 with a master’s degree in products science engineering. He then started working for NASA. Less than a years lateron he used and was accepted into the 1998 astronaut class. Melvin flew 2 objectives on the Space Shuttle Atlantis, worked on the International Space Station and has logged more than 565 hours in area — with 23 days, 13 hours and 28 minutes.

As for the contrasts inbetween football gamer and astronaut, Melvin understands them well. Now retired, he has a deep understanding of the 2 extremely competitive worlds and stated the 2 fields have much in typical.

“You train and practice so much that on the field or in area, you get into this zone where you understand precisely what that individual is going to do. If a protection rolls up on you, you understand you’re going to do a post corner rather of doing a 10-yard out,” Melvin stated. “And in area, in the shuttlebus, if something stopsworking, one system stopsworking, you understand what you’re going to in the next system.”

He pointed to the information analysis needed in football, studying videogame movie, recognizing patterns such as understanding how typically opposing groups run specific plays in specific scenarios, is comparable to what NASA researcher do in studying their information points. Beyond the scholastic researchstudy, Melvin stated he sees other parallels.

“When you walk out on the field in the crowd, crowd element of it. Oh my goodness,” Melvin stated. “Everyone is yelling. … But you get to this location where you have to get this tunnel vision and you get all of that things out of your head since you’ve go