NASA opens astronaut applications with a December 3 deadline

NASA is accepting applications for its next astronaut candidate class, with completed materials due by 11:59 p.m. EST on December 3, the agency announced November 7.

The agency expects to make its final selection in late 2027. Those selected will enter a training and evaluation period; a place in the class does not guarantee a flight assignment.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens and meet education and experience requirements. The NASA job posting lists a master’s in specified technical fields as one education route, alongside alternatives that include at least two academic years of appropriate doctoral study, certain medical degrees or a recognized test-pilot school.

Applicants still enrolled in test-pilot school must finish by July 2027. If that school is their only advanced technical qualification, the posting also requires a qualifying STEM bachelor’s degree or higher. Applicants must also satisfy the relevant professional-experience or specified flight-experience requirements.

Candidates will spend approximately two years in training and evaluation. Successful completion comes before joining the active astronaut corps and becoming eligible for a flight assignment, according to the posting.

NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik told The Associated Press that the workload exceeds the available astronauts. Fellow astronaut Frank Rubio told AP that patience matters and that contributing to the lunar mission involves much more than traveling to the Moon.