If you imagine yourself as the next Neil Armstrong, NASA is now accepting applications for new astronauts.
Potential space travelers have less than a month to apply to the US space agency, which warns that “frequent travel is required.”
The new astronauts must undergo a grueling two-year training and evaluation period and pass a series of physical requirements.
Those selected could be part of the agency’s Artemis program, which will send astronauts to the moon later this decade.
Exploring the Moon during the 2020s will help prepare humanity to ultimately send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, NASA said.
Astronaut candidates will spend approximately two years training in the basic skills necessary to be an astronaut, from spacewalks and robotics to leadership and teamwork skills. Pictured is NASA astronaut Robert L. Stewart in space, February 1984.
“NASA astronauts have been traveling to space for more than six decades and have lived there continuously since 2000,” the agency says.
‘Now, NASA’s Artemis program is preparing to land the first woman and next man on the Moon.
“The Orion spacecraft, mounted on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, will take humans into space to greater distances than they have ever gone before, for missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars.”
Applications for the job are open now and they are taking until April 2.
The permanent full-time position located in Houston, Texas will pay $152,258 (£119,394) per year.
Although you do not have to be an astronaut to apply, NASA’s selection criteria are strict.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens with a master’s degree in a STEM field, including engineering, life sciences, physical sciences, computer science, or mathematics.
The master’s degree requirement can also be met by two years of work toward a doctorate in a related field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics; a completed doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathic medicine degree; or a completed pilot test school program.
They must also successfully complete NASA’s long-duration astronaut physical exam, which includes vision and blood pressure requirements.
Potential space travelers have less than a month to apply to the US space agency, which warns that “frequent travel is required”
Astronauts from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) acknowledge the audience during a graduation ceremony at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in January 2020.
NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong made history when he emerged from the Apollo 11 ‘Eagle’ lander on July 21, 1969 and left the first human footprints on the moon.
In the photo, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. poses for a photo next to the American flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, July 20, 1969. Artemis is considered the successor to Apollo.
Astronaut candidates will spend about two years training in the basic skills needed to be an astronaut: from spacewalks and using robotics to “leadership and teamwork skills.”
Upon completion of training, they will join the active astronaut corps and will be eligible for assignment to space flight.
Those selected may be on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) before any trip to the Moon or Mars within the framework of the Artemis program.
Artemis began in 2022 with the first mission, which sent an unmanned Orion spacecraft around the moon and back.
The next mission, Artemis II, which will take place in September 2025, will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back home (although the crew for this trip has already been chosen).
Then, Artemis III, which will take place in September 2026, will actually land humans on the lunar surface, specifically in the south pole region of the moon.
NASA is not the only space agency interested in the lunar south, largely due to the region’s rich reserves of frozen water in the form of ice.
Successful applicants can become part of NASA’s Artemis program. The next Artemis mission, Artemis II, will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back home, although the crew for this trip has already been chosen. Pictured are the Artemis II crew from left: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.
This artist’s rendering shows the Orion spacecraft, containing its crew, while in lunar orbit during Artemis II.
If all goes as planned, Artemis III will mark the first time humans have walked on the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972.
In subsequent missions, NASA “will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon.”
He adds: “We will then use what we learn about the Moon and its surroundings to take the next big leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.”
In preparation for human presence on Mars, the space agency is also seeking four volunteers for a simulated experiment on Mars.
Volunteers will be locked up for more than 12 months inside Mars Dune Alpha, a 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed structure at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
There, they will conduct simulated spacewalks and provide data on their “physical and behavioral health” as they battle extreme isolation and separation from loved ones.
The futuristic building is intended to replicate the type of structure that humans will eventually build when they finally reach Mars.
NASA plans to send a crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s after the first Moon landing
Mars has become the next big step for humanity’s space exploration.
But before humans reach the red planet, astronauts will take a series of small steps as they return to the moon for a year-long mission.
Details of the lunar orbit mission have been revealed as part of a timeline of events that will lead to missions to Mars in the 2030s.
NASA has outlined its four-stage plan (pictured) that it hopes will one day allow humans to visit Mars at the Humans to Mars Summit held yesterday in Washington DC. This will involve multiple missions to the Moon in the coming decades.
In May 2017, Greg Williams, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for policy and plans, outlined the space agency’s four-phase plan that it hopes will one day allow humans to visit Mars, as well as its anticipated timeline.
Phase one and two It will involve multiple trips to lunar space, to allow the construction of a habitat that will provide a staging area for the trip.
The last piece of hardware delivered would be the deep space transport vehicle that would then be used to transport a crew to Mars.
And in 2027, a year-long simulation of life on Mars will take place.
Phases three and four will begin after 2030 and will involve sustained crewed expeditions to the Martian system and the surface of Mars.