NASA Want Ad: Astronauts needed to help get to Mars

“This next group of American space explorers will inspire the Mars generation to reach for new heights, and help us realize the goal of putting boot prints on the Red Planet”, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.

It’s an elite club with a high bar for admission, including a college degree (advanced preferred), near visual acuity, three years of related work experience – or if you haven’t spacewalked, at least 1,000 hours pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft – and a successful long-duration physical. Now you can be among the stars as an astronaut for NASA. There are extremely stringent requirements if you want to actually get in, but technically, nearly anyone in the sciences that is older than 25 is eligible to apply.

Boeing and SpaceX are building spacecraft that NASA hopes to use to launch humans to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral starting in 2017.

NASA also regularly covers the departures and return to Earth of its astronauts and the launches of its cargo missions to the Space Station.

Competition is expected to be intense: Of the more than 6,000 people who applied for NASA’s last astronaut class in 2013, only eight made it. Other requirement: you must be drug-free, fit enough to pass an extended physical, have either 20/20 vision or corrective glasses or surgery, and be an American citizen. “Some people would be surprised to learn they might have what it takes”.

“We want and need a diverse mix of individuals to ensure we have the best astronaut corps possible”, he said. After this, the highly qualified applicants would be evaluated by an Astronaut Selection Board.

On Monday, it took to its website and posted a job ad, searching for new astronauts to help with its exploration of Mars.

The pay to be an astronaut isn’t great, with salaries ranging from $66,026 to $144,566.