NASA is hiring astronauts for its next class, offering US citizens the chance to take part in future missions to the Moon and potentially help develop a lunar base. Applications must be submitted by midnight Eastern Time on December 3.
The agency says there are only a few vacancies. Successful candidates will be based at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston and receive an annual salary of $164,395.
The recruitment comes as the United States plans crewed missions to the lunar surface and the construction of a Moon base. NASA said those selected could eventually travel to the Moon, live and work there, and contribute to systems intended to support missions to Mars.
“The people we select could walk on the moon, live and work at the moon base, and help pioneer the systems and operations that will ultimately carry crews to Mars,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said. “Those missions will demand technical excellence, sound judgment, teamwork and courage.”
Who can apply to become a NASA astronaut?
Applicants must have either a master’s degree in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science or mathematics, or two academic years of doctoral study in one of those subjects.
Other routes include holding a qualifying medical degree, such as an MD, or being a physician assistant or nurse practitioner. Applicants who complete a recognised test pilot school by July 2027 can also meet the educational requirement.
Candidates must have at least three years of professional experience after completing their degree or pilot training. The required experience depends on the discipline they select.
Pilots must have either 750 hours as the lead pilot of a high-performance jet, 1,500 hours in other fixed-wing aircraft including 750 hours in command, or 1,000 hours in rotary-wing aircraft including 300 hours in command. Initial flight training and drone hours do not count.
Flight-test applicants must have completed, or be enrolled in, test pilot school and finish it by July 2027, as well as having three years of related flight-test experience. Medical applicants need three years of professional experience after obtaining their medical degree, with residencies counting towards that total.
NASA is also seeking applicants with three years of relevant experience in biological and medical science, physical science, engineering or operations. Operations experience must involve high-consequence environments requiring real-time decisions and intensive teamwork, where mistakes pose irreversible physical risks to personnel, missions or vehicles.
Physical and medical requirements
Prospective astronauts must pass medical and psychiatric examinations, a background check and drug screening. Their eyesight must be correctable to 20/20 in each eye, and they must also pass a swimming test.
The role requires candidates to undertake moderate to arduous physical activity, including heavy lifting, crouching and crawling, and to work in poor weather. They must accept the possibility of dangerous or life-threatening situations, as well as living and working for long periods in remote, isolated, small or confined spaces.
Those selected must also be willing to spend 12 months or longer in space, accepting extreme isolation, austere living conditions and separation from their families and loved ones.
NASA’s Artemis II mission sent four astronauts around the Moon in April, setting a record for the greatest distance humans have travelled from Earth.
