what are the requirements to be a astronaut
What It'due south Similar to Get a NASA Astronaut: ten Surprising Facts
Surprising Facts
Being an astronaut is a tremendous commitment. Astronaut candidates — who tend to exist selected in their 30s and 40s — usually leave prestigious careers for a chance at existence an astronaut, starting again at the bottom of the rung. Training means long days at work and lots of travel. There's as well no guarantee they'll brand it into space.
Yet, more than xviii,000 Americans competed in this round of NASA's astronaut pick. The new candidates will be announced Wed (June vii), and will report for basic training in August. Hither's what it takes to be a NASA astronaut and what happens after the selection.
Astronaut requirements
NASA has strict requirements for being an astronaut. The job not just needs you in top physical shape, but information technology also demands the technical skills to take on hard jobs in a spacecraft or on a space station far from home.
The bureau's basic requirements are a bachelor's degree in applied science, biological science, physical scientific discipline, informatics or mathematics, followed by 3 years of professional experience (or 1,000 hours of pilot-in-control time in jet aircraft). Candidates also must pass NASA's astronaut physical examination. Nonetheless, there are many other skills that tin be an asset to selection, such as scuba diving, wilderness experience, leadership experience and facility with other languages (especially Russian, which all astronauts are required to learn today.)
In this photograph: These are the basic requirements for being a NASA astronaut, merely selected candidates usually accept much more experience.
What an astronaut "class" looks like
NASA has selected 22 "classes" of astronauts since the commencement group of seven astronauts in 1959 who were called for the Mercury program. The space programme has grown and changed significantly since that time. The beginning few classes of astronauts were drawn largely from the military, specially test pilots — a group deemed ready to deal with the extreme dangers of space. But as NASA'southward program evolved, more diverse skill sets were needed.
For example, the fourth class of astronauts (in 1969) was known as "The Scientists," and included Harrison J. Schmitt, who was the only geologist to walk on the moon (during Apollo 17). Other notable classes include the 8th form in 1978 (including female, African-American and Asian-American selections), the 16th class in 1996 (the largest class, with 44 members selected for frequent infinite shuttle flights to build out the International Infinite Station) and the 21st course in 2013 (the first class with a fifty/50 gender split. [Building the International Infinite Station (Photos)]
In this photograph: The about recent group of NASA astronauts, shown higher up, was selected in 2013. It was the outset class to exist evenly carve up between male and female candidates.
The vehicles they will use
The new astronaut class has a big diverseness of vehicles to look forward to. Astronauts today utilize the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to attain the International Infinite Station, the principal destination to test out long-duration spaceflight. In the coming years, however, NASA hopes to once more motility beyond low-Earth orbit for missions to the moon and Mars. If this comes to pass, the new class of astronauts volition use the Orion spacecraft for deep-space exploration.
The new astronauts can also await forward to launching from American soil, in one case the new class of commercial vehicles is ready. Both SpaceX and Boeing are creating spacecraft for NASA's commercial coiffure programme, which is expected to get going in earnest by the end of the decade. It will be the first time Americans launch from the United States since the space shuttle program, which completed in 2011. [Orion Explained: NASA's Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (Infographic)]
In this photo: The International Space Station
Where the new astronauts volition go
The new astronauts may brainstorm their careers traveling to the International Space Station, or they may detect themselves flying further. Information technology all depends on where United States space policy goes in the coming years, and what programs NASA finds itself involved in. The space station is scheduled to last until 2024, but could be extended until 2028 or even longer.
Other plans are more nebulous, simply NASA has several ideas in mind. The agency is testing its Orion spacecraft, which is expected to brand an uncrewed flight by the moon in 2019. (The agency considered putting astronauts on board, but decided not to due to the additional technical burden.) Orion would then carry humans to deep-space destinations in the 2020s and across.
Where next? NASA hopes to bring astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, if its current programme has back up for that long. As a function of that, the agency recently announced a "deep-space gateway" infinite station near the moon that could assist the astronauts train for deep-space missions, or prepare for a voyage to Mars.
In this photo: An artist's conception of the "deep-space gateway" space station that could be used about the moon in the coming years.
What astronauts do (most of the time)
While the public mostly pays attending to astronauts while they're in space, in reality the astronauts will spend only a fraction of their careers upward high. Nearly of their fourth dimension volition exist spent grooming and supporting other missions.
First, the astronaut candidates will have nigh 2 years of basic training, where they volition learn survival training, language, technical skills and other things they need to exist an astronaut. Upon graduating, new astronauts can exist assigned to a space mission, or assigned to technical roles in the Astronaut Office at the Johnson Infinite Middle in Houston. These roles tin can include supporting electric current missions or advising NASA engineers on how to develop future spacecraft.
In this photo: 2013 astronaut class member Anne McClain serves equally CapCom (capsule communicator) with the International Space Station. This office has an astronaut on the ground communicating directly with the astronauts on the infinite station, relaying instructions from the rest of Mission Command.
What bones training looks similar
Astronaut candidates undergo an intense process earlier the newly selected class is certified as astronauts fix for flight. Amidst their many tasks will exist learning how to spacewalk, how to do robotics, how to wing airplanes and how to operate on the International Infinite Station.
The astronaut candidates volition wing NASA's fleet of T-38s to proceeds piloting skills; practice for spacewalks at the Johnson Space Center's 60-pes-deep swimming puddle (called the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory); take hold of false spacecraft using a do version of the station'southward robotic arm, Canadarm2; learn Russian; and get basic training on infinite-station operations. Astronauts also deepen their leadership and following skills through geology and survival preparation. [Space History Photo: Space Station Mock-upwards in Neutral Buoyancy Simulator]
In this photo: Members of the 2013 astronaut class appoint in state-survival preparation.
Forging partnerships
While the astronaut candidates selected by NASA volition be principally working with that bureau, they also will find themselves embedded in a network of international partnerships. Along with commercial partners in the United States developing spaceflight hardware and the various NASA centers that work in human spaceflight, there are 16 nations participating in the International Space Station — each with its own realm of expertise.
For case, Roscosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency) operates several modules in the station and ferries astronauts to infinite using their Soyuz rocket. The Canadian Space Agency heavily participates in robotic operations, such as capturing cargo ships with the Canadarm2. Other major international partners include the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Nihon Aerospace Exploration Bureau (JAXA). Each of these agencies has its own astronauts working on the space station and in the Astronaut Role.
In this photograph: Trek 20 on the International Space Station had all major partner nations represented for the commencement time. From left to right: Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) cosmonaut Roman Romanenko; Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata; European astronaut Frank De Winne; NASA astronaut Michael Barratt; Canadian Space Bureau (CSA) astronaut Bob Thirsk; NASA astronaut Tim Kopra; and Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.
Passing the selection process
This round, a record 18,353 applications came in for just a handful of NASA spots. At first, human resources personnel reviewed each application to run into if it met bones qualifications. Every application that qualified was so reviewed by a panel — the Astronaut Rating Console. The rating panel is comprised of about 50 people, generally current astronauts. The panel decided on a few hundred of the about highly qualified candidates, and so did reference checks on each candidate.
That step narrowed down the candidates to simply 120 people. A smaller group, the Astronaut Option Board, then called in these candidates for interviews and medical screening. Subsequently that, the top l candidates underwent a second circular of interviews and more than medical screenings. The last astronaut candidates will be selected from this grouping of 50 people.
In this photograph: The Astronaut Awarding Review Team, including members from NASA's man resource departments, reviews applications from astronaut hopefuls.
How astronaut candidates are notified
The lucky candidates who make the cut receive a telephone call from the head of the Flight Operations Advisers at NASA's Johnson Infinite Center, equally well as the chief of the Astronaut Function. NASA asks the candidates to share the news only with their firsthand family until NASA can make an official announcement.
NASA so typically holds a news briefing to announce the new candidates, and invites journalists and those with social media accounts to ask questions of the new astronaut class. So, the candidates are quickly plunged into training, giving them little time to talk with the exterior earth for several months at the least.
In this photo: A flying into space is the ultimate dream for an astronaut candidate.
Reporting for duty
The new astronaut form will starting time work at the Johnson Space Eye in Baronial 2017 and be sworn into civil service. There will be a few weeks between when the astronauts are selected and when they move to Houston. In that time, they will end their current jobs and arrange to move with their families to Houston.
While being an astronaut is a prestigious job, candidates often get out flourishing careers to brand the trip into space. Notwithstanding, in some cases they can employ their time as astronauts to "level upward" in other careers. For case, military astronauts can often accept a articulation consignment at NASA, allowing them to keep gaining in rank while performing missions and other astronaut duties. Or those in the sciences can try to choose missions and duties related to their past careers, letting them continue to publish scientific periodical papers and accept on other duties that lead to advancement in academia.
In this photo: Christina Hammock (left) and Jessica Meir, two members of the 2013 grade of astronaut candidates, swear in NASA employees at the Johnson Infinite Eye in August 2013.
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Elizabeth Howell, Ph.D., is a contributing writer for Infinite.com since 2012. Equally a proud Trekkie and Canadian, she tackles topics like spaceflight, diversity, science fiction, astronomy and gaming to help others explore the universe. Elizabeth's on-site reporting includes two human being spaceflight launches from Republic of kazakhstan, and embedded reporting from a simulated Mars mission in Utah. She holds a Ph.D. and One thousand.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of Northward Dakota, and a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton Academy. Her latest volume, NASA Leadership Moments, is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and yet wants to exist an astronaut someday.
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