Want to go to the moon?
NASA announced on Saturday that it was recruiting its first new class of astronauts since 2024. The new space travelers would most likely participate in the Artemis program, which aims to send people back to the moon in 2028 and establish a lunar base in the 2030s.
“This is an extraordinary time to join NASA’s astronaut corps,” Jared Isaacman, the agency’s administrator, said in a statement. “The people we select could walk on the moon, live and work at the moon base and help pioneer the systems and operations that will ultimately carry crews to Mars.”
Some of the new astronauts will also spend time in low-Earth orbit, but they may not go to the International Space Station. A centerpiece of NASA’s human spaceflight program for more than a quarter-century, the space station is scheduled to be retired in 2030.
After the end of the I.S.S., NASA plans to send astronauts to commercial space stations that have yet to be launched.
For those who want to leave Earth, applications are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Dec. 3. The space agency said it expected to make its selections by late next year.
Almost all of the hopeful will be disappointed. During the previous round two years ago, more than 8,000 people applied, and NASA chose 10 of them, an acceptance rate of less than 0.125 percent. Before that, NASA had not sought to hire new astronauts for four years, because the only missions available were a limited number of trips to the I.S.S.
The agency’s ambitious lunar goals mean there will probably be opportunities for more astronauts in the coming years.
“That’s definitely a new aspect that was not there when we joined,” said Woody Hoburg, one of NASA’s 32 active astronauts. Mr. Hoburg was selected in 2017.
To become a NASA astronaut today, you have to be a U.S. citizen, and you must pass a physical exam.
NASA also sets a fairly high bar for education. Applicants should have a master’s degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics or have completed at least two years toward a doctoral degree in a technical field. The space agency will also consider applicants with a medical degree or those who will complete a test pilot program by next July, as long as they have a bachelor’s degree in a technical field.
In a change from previous requirements, NASA will now accept applicants with a nursing degree, said Nichole Stilwell, another current astronaut. “We’ve just opened up the types of degrees that we will take,” she said.
NASA requires candidates to have at least three years of related professional experience after receiving their qualifying degree.
But beyond that, the agency tries to keep an open mind. There is no age limit, for example, nor is there a requirement for 20/20 vision.
Current astronauts say there is no magic formula to be selected. “If you meet the minimum requirements, it means you already have a stellar résumé and so tell us about yourself,” Ms. Stilwell said. “What makes you unique?”
Those chosen will undergo two years of training before becoming full-fledged astronauts eligible for mission assignments. Through its 68-year history, NASA has selected 370 astronaut candidates.
NASA has laid out an ambitious road map for studying the area around the moon’s intriguing south pole region, which includes ice deposits at the bottom of eternally shadowed craters.
During a news conference on Saturday, NASA officials said they were moving ahead with the idea of turning an engineering model of the Perseverance Mars rover into a working spacecraft that will be sent to the moon in late 2028.
Unlike all other lunar spacecraft to date, the rover, named Promise, will be powered by the heat of a plutonium-powered nuclear battery. That will allow Promise to operate easily through the cold, two-week-long lunar nights and explore the moon’s shadowed craters.
“Promise is a science mission of opportunity, but it is built from the resourcefulness across the agency,” said Nicky Fox, NASA’s associate administrator for the science mission directorate.
Dr. Fox said Promise would carry several instruments, including a drill, that are copies of equipment on VIPER, or the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, which is scheduled to launch to the moon late next year.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for us because we can do comparisons on different parts of the south pole using both VIPER and Promise,” Dr. Fox said.
Promise was set to have an instrument from a Canadian rover mission that was canceled this year.
The cost for sending Promise to the lunar surface will be under $400 million, said Carlos García-Galán, the manager of NASA’s moon base program. That includes the cost of the launch on a New Glenn rocket from Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company, Blue Origin.
NASA officials also announced other contracts to help deploy power and communications infrastructure on and around the moon.
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