Yahoo Finance One big step for your career: NASA’s step-by-step guide to becoming an astronaut
Many young children harbour aspirations to become an astronaut one day... Until they find out how hard it is to achieve.
But if today, on the 50th anniversary of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 mission that saw humans land on the moon, you’re feeling nostalgic about your childhood dreams, here’s a thorough breakdown about what it would take to get yourself into space.
How to become an astronaut: The application process
After applying on the USAJOBS website (where all of NASA’s job openings are posted), candidate qualifications are reviewed by NASA’s Astronaut Selection Board.
What are they looking for?
A mix of both education and work experience.
“This could include the ability to fix things; design systems and structures; and make quick decisions that can result in life or death consequences, among other things,” NASA public affairs officer Stephanie Schierholz told Yahoo Finance.
“They also seek those with demonstrated leadership skills, as well as those who have shown good communication skills, teamwork and adaptability throughout their careers.”
Applicants can be both civilian and from the military. Active duty military personnel have to submit their applications to be an astronaut through their respective service, NASA said on their website.
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How to become an astronaut: The interview process
The applicant pool is culled from more than 18,000 to just 120 of the most highly-qualified candidates, who are invited to NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.
Here candidates undergo interviews, team and individual performance events, and psychological competency tests which are particularly important for success in long space missions, explained Schierholz.
Applicants will also go through a basic medical exam such as vision and hearing tests as well as “traditional laboratory testing” in order to understand how the applicant’s health might be affected over time.
Around half of the applicants then progress to the second round, where the final candidates are selected. NASA puts the call-out for astronauts and recruits “as needed”, and lately it has been roughly every four years. The last ‘class’ was 2017, where 12 candidates were chosen.
How to become an astronaut: The training process
These lucky dozen or so are then expected to undergo training for two years.
During this period, astronaut candidates are trained in five categories:
Jet training: This teaches candidates to think quickly in life-or-death situations
Operating and maintaining International Space Station systems: This includes the environmental control and life support system, the crew health care system, computers and data management, the electrical power system, guidance and navigation, and thermal control systems.
Spacewalk simulations: Developing the skills to complete complex spacewalk simulations in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, which requires them to obtain a scuba certification;
Operating the stations’ Canadarm2 robotic arm, which is a robotic system on the International Space Station that moves equipment and supplies around in space.
Learn Russian: One of the two official space station languages, with the other being English.
And that’s not all.
“In addition to these specific skills, the astronaut candidates perfect their expeditionary skills, such as leadership, followership, team care and communication, through activities like survival training and geology treks,” Schierholz said.
Astronauts-in-training also learn about NASA’s work in other areas, such as aeronautics and research.
During the two years, civilian astronaut candidates are paid based on the US Federal Government’s ‘General Schedule’ pay scale ranging between GS-11 to GS-14, which is anywhere between US $53,805 (AU $76,726) to US $117,810 (AU $167,997).
“The grade is determined in accordance with each individual's academic achievements and experience.”
Meanwhile, military astronaut candidates are sent to the Johnson Space Centre and remain in active duty status, meaning they retain all the pay, benefits, and leave they’re entitled to.
What happens after astronaut training?
After training is done and dusted, and while they wait to be called on a mission to the moon, these apprentice astronauts are given “technical assignments” in the astronaut office.
The role you’ll be most likely to recognise is ‘CAPCOM’, or ‘capsule communicator’, the person in Mission Control who speaks to the astronauts in space.
Meanwhile, other astronauts might provide technical support for NASA’s human spaceflight programs in the role of technical advisor to NASA’s Orion spacecraft program, Space Launch System program, or Commercial Crew programs.
But do all the candidates actually get to go to space?
“The goal certainly is that all the astronaut candidates who successfully complete training are assigned to a mission,” said Schierholz.
Many of the astronauts from the 2013 class are flying their first space missions this year, she said.
But none of this matters...
...Because you’ll never get past the application process if you don’t first meet the basic requirements, which are:
A bachelor’s degree in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics;
Three years’ professional experience or at least 1,000 hours of experience as a jet pilot;
Height below 180cm and weighing no more than 81.5kg in order to work in a spacecraft and wear a space suit;
20/20 vision (you are allowed to wear glasses or have had corrective surgery); and
Be a US citizen or hold dual citizenship.
I’m not a US citizen. Is there any hope?
Other than NASA, other countries that have space agencies are Russia (note that Russian astronauts are called ‘cosmonauts), Japan, Canada, and Europe, through the European Space Agency that comprises of 22 member states.
If you’re Australian, you can become an astronaut – you just have to become a US citizen, or get dual citizenship. However, NASA said “it is not recommended” that you change your citizenship just to be eligible for their astronaut candidate program.
Australia has a space agency, called the Australian Space Agency, but its main focus is on data collection from satellites, observation, technology development, robotics and automation, and engagement with international partners through sharing information and collaborating on projects.
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