In light of the Mars Curiosity landing successfully on the planet after an incredibly ingenious deployment technique, I’ve been thinking about my dream job. When asked, I know a lot of us editors probably have similar answers to the dream job question: to edit a TV show, to edit features, edit documentaries, edit a meaningful piece about humanity, edit national advertisements. But what’s my dream job?

If I were to create a job out of thin air (that may or may not exist, I’m not even sure), I think I’d have to go with Space Videographer/Editor. I would work for NASA or SpaceX or whatever other space exploration firm is out there, producing all their video for broadcast, the web, and whatever else.

My duties as a space video producer? Well, obviously I’d have to go to space every once in a while to do some shooting. That’s a given. I don’t care if robots and astronauts can do it, I need to go up there and get some shots of my own. The job would be maybe 10-20% “travel” (to space, duh) and the other percentage would be spent on Earth, either documenting the exploration process or in the edit, putting it all together. And these aren’t cheesy or dry videos – they’re fun, engaging, or inspiring. Did you watch the 7 Minutes of Terror video that was released? They’d be more like that than NASA TV’s 4:3 feed of their control room. Powerful, inspiring, and relatable video about SPACE!

Another aspect of my dream job duties would be the ongoing curation of an educational video series for kids to inspire them to pursue learning about space exploration. I love the idea of designing videos that actually engage young minds and deliver the knowledge of the universe. It’s also my contribution to erasing the effects of Jersey Shore and the like.

Basically, I would sit down and watch the greatest minds in the world explore space, and figure out how to take the information they give me and produce it in a way that’s understandable for the masses, but not in a watered down way. Oh, and also go to space. How great would that be?

Alas, I don’t think my dream job exists, so I might have to settle for editing a TV show about space someday. Some edit bays are as cold as the vacuum of space, so I could get pretty close to a simulation.

If you could make up a job out of thin air, even if it’s not remotely feasible, what would it be?