NASA is recruiting its next class of astronauts, inviting U.S. citizens to apply before midnight ET on Dec. 3 for the chance to “live and work” on the moon.
The space agency’s application portal states there are “few vacancies” for the role, which pays $164,395 annually and requires recruits to relocate to Houston, where they’ll work at the Johnson Space Center.Â
While the job is open to all citizens, applicants must meet certain educational criteria and possess specialized experience. In other words, not just any Tom, Dick or Harriet will qualify for the job.Â
The next group of astronauts is being selected as the U.S. plans to build a moon base and send crewed missions to the lunar surface. NASA’s Artemis II mission recently sent a crew of four astronauts around the moon in April, setting a record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from our planet.
“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 in a statement. “Those missions will demand technical excellence, sound judgment, teamwork and courage.”
Here are the qualifications NASA is looking for in an astronaut.Â
Educational background
NASA’s job application portal states that applicants must fit into one of the following four educational profiles:
- A master’s degree in a qualifying field of engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science or mathematics.
- Two academic years of qualifying doctoral coursework in one of those fields.Â
- A qualifying medical degree, such as an MD, physician assistant or nurse practitioner.Â
- Completion of a recognized test pilot school by July 2027.
Specialized experience
Applicants must also select a discipline they best qualify for based on their work experience, with NASA requiring three years of professional experience after completing their degree program or pilot training. Â
- Pilots: Must meet one of three thresholds: 750 hours as lead pilot of a high-performance jet; 1,500 hours in other fixed-wing aircraft, with 750 in command; or 1,000 hours in rotary-wing aircraft, with 300 in command. Initial flight training and drone hours are excluded.
- Flight test:Â Requires test pilot school completion or enrollment, with completion by July 2027, as well as three years of related flight test experience.
- Medical: At least three years of professional experience after earning a medical degree. NASA said that residencies count toward the experience.
- Biological and medical science: At least three years of related experience.
- Physical science: Three years of related work experience.
- Engineering:Â Three years of related work experience.
- Operations: Three years of related work experience in “high-consequence environments that require real-time decision-making and intensive teamwork, where errors carry irreversible and physical risk to personnel, missions or vehicles,” NASA said.
Other requirements
Applicants must also pass a series of clearances, including medical and psychiatric exams; vision that can be corrected to 20/20 in each eye; and a background check and drug screening.
Aspiring astronauts must be able “to perform moderate to arduous physical activities, including heavy lifting, crouching, crawling and exposure to inclement weather” and “be willing to work in dangerous, life-threatening situations and live/work in remote, isolated, small or confined spaces for prolonged periods.” Applicants also have to pass a swimming test.
On top of that, applicants must “be willing to deploy to space for 12 months or longer, accepting extreme isolation, austere living conditions and separation from loved ones.”
