It’s not often that the federal government announces job openings in front of elementary school students, but that’s just what NASA did last week. The kids cheered as an official explained the agency’s largest-ever effort to recruit astronauts. Those accepted will join the 2013 astronaut candidate class. The highly visible recruitment effort is another signs of changing times at NASA.
For years, the agency had little trouble filling its astronaut ranks. Indeed, NASA officials say, they had little need to engage in recruiting. With high profile programs in place — especially the space shuttle — NASA was flooded by applications. That’s no longer the case. With the shuttle program ended, the agency without spacecraft of its own and current astronauts hitching rides on other nation’s rockets, the agency’s profile has diminished. That has helped cut the number of those interested in becoming an astronaut.
NASA officials hope to reverse that trend with the new program, including the high-profile kick-off event. Moreover, applications are available on-line, and there’s a flashy, music-laden recruitment video on YouTube. Clearly, NASA hopes to attract recruits from a wide cross-section of American society.
Even so, the qualifications remain exacting, and properly so. It’s possible that an astronaut in the class of 2013 will fly in space, either aboard U.S.-built commercial spacecraft to the International Space Station or, later, aboard a government-built Orion capsule. If it’s the latter, a landing on an asteroid or Mars is a possibility. No wonder the standards are tough.
There are physical requirements. Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, be between 5 foot 2 inches and 6 foot 3 inches, have vision that can be corrected to 20/20 and not have high blood pressure. The educational requirements are rigorous. Would-be astronauts must have at least a bachelor’s degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or math as well as proficiency in basic physics. That’s a minimum.