NASA to Begin Astronaut Recruitment for Deep Space Exploration

Finally, you can put all those summers of Space Camp to use: NASA’s taking applications for a new class of astronauts starting December 14th. Currently, their roster sits at 47 astronauts, and they’re looking to buff it up a little bit in preparation for their Next Giant Leap.

Those who make it through training will be eligible to work on a variety of NASA missions and crafts, including the International Space Station, the SpaceX Dragon, or Orion, NASA’s deep space explorer. The last one there is part of NASA’s Next Giant Leap program, designed to get humans father than we’ve ever been before.

Can I just take a second to say how exciting it is to even be able to type that sentence? Cause it’s super exciting. Okay. Sorry.

The requirements, according to the job posting on NASA.gov, are simple:

Astronaut candidates must have earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. An advanced degree is desirable. Candidates also must have at least three years of related, progressively responsible professional experience, or at least 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft. Astronaut candidates must pass the NASA long-duration spaceflight physical.

There are also a few physical requirements, such as long-distance visual acuity and height limitations. The future seriously is now, and we can’t wait to see the brand new class of explorers.

(via io9, featured image via Facebook/NASA)

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Jessica Lachenal

Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.

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