Space engineering is engineering. The application is space vehicles. The design principles and the operations are unchanged from any other device that uses mechanical equipment under the control of electronics. Engineering for space can also be outsourced. Knowledge of robotics won't make you special.
I've been in software for over thirty years. I do not program web pages or windows. I write code for embedded devices ... everything from remote telemetry, servo-driven motion control (robotics), process control, and so on. Some of this experience was on the Skylab project.
Robotics envolves writing algorithms that takes into account the length of moment arms, joint geometry, inertial ballistics, and coordinating the timing of multiple movements. The software for this is mature and is "shrink-wrapped", as the marketeers say. Applying that software to a new machine is a "drag and drop" process with dialog boxes to supply the length of momemt arms, mass distribution, gear reduction ratios, and so on.
This leaves the mechanical design of the remotely-operated gizmo. Reading a few books from amazon is a good start, but the number of jobs in such desciplines is very small. Expect them to screen for these positions using multiple Phds and years of experience.
NASA generally hires Phds from brand-name schools, usually following miltary/areospace employment. Actual space hardware is contracted to established companies like Lockheed, Boeing, General Dynamics, etc. Nationwide there are currently about 150 such jobs open, including non-areospace. Those jobs will be divided among those currently looking for such jobs and new graduates. Increased activity in the space industry will not increase the available job list to encompass the number of damn good people who are already out of work in those very engineering disciplines. There is no reason to expect those jobs to be reserved for American engineers.
Why do you think robotics is some special form of engineering for which there is a shortage of experts? That just is not the case.