Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Bored of your job? You think you can be an astronaut? Here is your chance to join NASA. The US space agency is now accepting applications from anyone with the right qualifications to be a space candidate.
The astronaut candidate application website now is live and accepting submissions through February 18. The list of selected astronaut candidates will be announced by NASA in mid-2017.
Also read: NASA seeks astronauts for deeper space missions
Those who will be chosen could take flight in four different US spacecrafts. Those spacecrafts include NASA's Orion, two commercial spacecraft (Boeing’s CST-100 Starline and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon), and on the International Space Station.
Here are a few tweets NASA posted on twitter to build the excitement:
Want to #BeAnAstronaut? We're hiring. Applications are now open. Apply today on @USAJOBS: https://t.co/tdFIrVLUYF https://t.co/gl1Esh7Etm
— NASA (@NASA) December 14, 2015
Reserve your seat for @NASA's #JourneytoMars! Apply now to #BeanAstronaut: https://t.co/YmfEWPvaVd pic.twitter.com/0ol9SZcfIT
— NASA_SLS (@NASA_SLS) December 14, 2015
NASA administrator and former astronaut Charles Bolden was quoted as saying “NASA is on an ambitious journey to Mars and we’re looking for talented men and women from diverse backgrounds and every walk of life to help get us there”.
The selected candidates will get a pay from $66,000 per year and can go as high as $144,566 with experience.
Also read: NASA to recruit astronauts for Mars trip preparation
Qualifications needed
According to NASA following minimum qualifications are a must:
-Astronaut candidates applying must be a US citizen having a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science or mathematics.
-An advanced degree is desirable.
-Candidates also must have at least three years of related, progressively responsible professional experience, or at least 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft.
-Astronaut candidates must pass the NASA long-duration astronaut physical.
If you have any other questions related to this job, NASA astronaut Shannon Walker and astronaut selection manager Anne Roemer will answer them at a question forum at 4pm EST today on the following link: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/.
