If you’ve ever dreamed of living in claustrophobic, cramped quarters, urinating in your restrictive uniform and eating mush from a tube, your ship may have finally arrived. NASA will soon begin accepting applications from potential astronauts.
The space agency will begin looking for “a diverse pool of candidates” for future space missions in March, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine says.
To qualify for the gig, a candidate needs to be a U.S. citizen with a Master’s Degree in a STEM field like engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science or mathematics, according to the job listing.
Applicants should also be certified test pilots with two years’ experience or 1,000 hours of flight time, per NASA.
“We’re on the verge of sending the first woman and next man to the moon by 2024,” Bridenstine says. “For the handful of highly talented women and men we will hire to join our diverse astronaut corps, it’s an incredible time in human spaceflight to be an astronaut. We’re asking all eligible Americans if they have what it to takes to apply beginning March 2nd.”
Would working as an astronaut be as glamorous as most people seem to think?