NASA receives record number of astronaut applications

The number of applications for a spot in NASA’s 2017 class is nearly three times what the USA space agency received in 2012, and far surpassing the previous record of 8,000 in 1978.

Applications to join NASA’s 2017 astronaut class opened on December 14, 2015 and closed on Thursday, February 18, 2016 – the beginning of an 18-month process that will ultimately see between 8 to 14 persons chosen for a career with NASA in mid-2017.

After the selection process, the successful candidates will be trained for two years in the basic skills required of astronauts: learning Russian, spacewalking, working in teams and spacecraft systems. There are 47 astronauts in the active astronaut corps, and more will be needed to crew future missions to the space station and destinations in deep space.

After the training, they will take part in NASA’s various space programs including the Journey to Mars mission, get on board the International Space Station, and SpaceX’s Crew capsule Dragon.

When young children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, astronaut is always on the list, along with pilot, doctor, policeman and fireman.

Before that happens, NASA’s Astronaut Selection Board will have to review the avalanche of applications, assessing each candidate’s merits.

But NASA eyes more missions in coming years.

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

“We have our work cut out for us with this many applications”, Brian Kelly of NASA said. NASA received a record breaking number of applications for just 14 astronaut positions, which means the acceptance rate will be 0.08%.

The great ape was actually American astronaut Scott Kelly in disguise, wearing a gorilla suit that was sent to the space station by his twin brother Mark Kelly.

Space and mass are two things that are at a premium in any spacecraft, and NASA has been able to make significant savings in these areas in terms of the spacecraft’s controls. Candidates need to be US citizens with a bachelor’s degree in science, math or engineering. The space organization also required applicants to have “1,000 hours of experience piloting a jet aircraft”. Then actual people, mostly Nasa astronauts and not some computer algorithm, will take a look at the rest. The recent blockbuster movie The Martian may also be the reason for people having interest in being part of NASA.