18,300 apply for 14 jobs in NASA's Astronaut Corps
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) closed the application window for its 2017 class of astronauts on Thursday, after some 18,300 applicants submitted their names for just eight to 14 spots.
The extraordinary number of applicants shattered a nearly 40-year-old record: in 1978, NASA received just 8,000 applicants to its astronaut program.
鈥淚t鈥檚 heartening to know so many people recognize what a great opportunity this is to be part of 狈础厂础鈥檚 exciting mission,鈥� said Johnson Space Center director of operations Brian Kelly in a .聽鈥淚 look forward to meeting the men and women talented enough to rise to the top of what is always a pool of incredible applicants.鈥�
The application window聽 for the first time since 2011. NASA promoted the opportunity on social media platforms such as Reddit.
Given NASA's聽, the size of the applicant class is astounding. NASA is only looking for American citizens with at least a bachelor鈥檚 degree in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics.
Qualified applicants must also have at least three years of professional experience or one thousand or more hours of flight time. Due to the physically demanding nature of the astronaut program, applicants must also pass a physical exam.
Applicants who don't meet these requirements will be eliminated first, and then reviewers will winnow through the remaining applications to determine who can be classed as "highly qualified."
Only the聽 who are "most qualified" will have their references checked. Of those, about 120 will come to Houston for in-person interviews, orientation, and medical screening in聽.
Those are the usual numbers; this year's enormous applicant pool could change things, reported the New York Times. 鈥淲e鈥檝e never gotten 18,000 applications,鈥� said Anne Roemer, the NASA official in charge of the selection process, 鈥渟o I don鈥檛 know if that number may need to move up this time.鈥�
After the dozen or so new astronauts are selected, they will have to undergo rigorous training at the Johnson Spaceflight Center in Houston, Texas. There, newly minted astronauts will be trained in teamwork, spacewalking, spacecraft systems, and the Russian language.
After two years of training, the new astronauts will be assigned to either the International Space Station, 狈础厂础鈥檚 Orion craft, Boeing鈥檚 CST-100 Starliner, or SpaceX鈥檚 Crew Dragon.
狈础厂础鈥檚 was selected in a very different fashion. In 1959, NASA requested that the military branches send it a list of men with flight experience and engineering training. The first seven astronauts were all .
Today鈥檚 astronauts must still meet certain height requirements, between 5'2" and 6'3", the first astronauts had to measure 5'11" or less in order to fit into the cramped Mercury capsule.
Within five years, requirements had shifted. NASA began to focus on scientific exploration, and sought applicants with a doctoral degree in a scientific or medical field, or equivalent experience.
Although the qualifications have become slightly less stringent since 1964, the application process remains long and exacting.聽NASA hopes to announce its next astronaut class by the summer of 2017.聽
The nation鈥檚 newest astronauts may be facing a new frontier when they become fully qualified, as NASA looks towards Mars.
鈥淭his next group of American space explorers will inspire the Mars generation to reach for new heights,鈥� said NASA administrator Charles Bolden , 鈥渁nd help us realize the goal of putting boot prints on the Red Planet.鈥�
