by NEW YORK – Do you dream of leaving the planet?
NASA is looking for its next group of astronauts, and you have until April 2nd to park yourself.
“Typically, it’s a very common application,” said April Jordan, NASA’s astronaut selection manager.
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The chances of you being selected are slim. The last time NASA put out a call for applications, in 2020, more than 12,000 people applied.
It took the agency a year and a half to go through the applications. NASA picked only 10 of the hopefuls, or 0.083%. So Harvard University’s 3.5% acceptance rate among high school applicants seems abundant.
“So when I say ‘very popular,'” Jordan said, “it’s probably an understatement.”
Jordan is on a media tour to spread the word that being an astronaut in 2024 is not the “right stuff” as it was in the 1960s, when astronauts were all white men, almost all from the military.
Accompanying her on this trip, which included a stop at the New York Times, was Victor Glover, a nine-year veteran of the astronaut corps who gave an insight into how he made it through the tough selection process.
To become a NASA astronaut today, you must be a United States citizen and pass the astronaut physical exam.
NASA sets a fairly high bar for education – a master’s degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, followed by three years of related professional experience.
Beyond that, the agency tries to keep an open mind. (There is no age limit, for example, or a 20/20 vision requirement.)
“We want the group of astronaut candidates we select to reflect the nation they are representing,” Jordan said.
Take Glover, for example.
In some respects, it fits the historical archetype. Before NASA, he was a Navy aviator and trained as a test pilot.
It is also overcoming historical barriers.
In 2020, he became the first Black astronaut to serve as a crew member on the International Space Station after 20 years of astronauts living there. In 2025, he will become the first Black astronaut to fly around the moon for the Artemis II mission.
To stand out in NASA’s competitive application process, Glover knew he would need more than a strong resume. He was especially determined to land a good joke.
The night before one of Glover’s interviews at NASA for the class of 2013, he was asked to write an essay. Title: “Girls Like Astronauts.”
“They’ve been sitting in this room all day listening to all these dry answers,” he mused. “I’m going to try to make them laugh.”
The essay progressed from pivot to poignancy, reflecting on the ways in which he tried to encourage his four daughters. He also decided to be vulnerable during the interview, sharing a “bonehead” moment when he risked not hitting the water during an air show.
“You have to be able to share that information with the interview panel when you come in, because you’re bound to fail at something,” Jordan said. “And so you have to give in even if you’ve achieved great things.”
As part of the application process, Glover wrote a limerick that concluded: “This is all bothering me, because I gave so much blood and pee.”
Glover set his sights on going to outer space as a child, when he saw his classmates break down in tears over the Challenger disaster.
His space ambition grew years later when he heard a speech from Pam Melroy, a former space shuttle commander. Melroy, now NASA’s deputy administrator, recalled how her crew struggled to repair a damaged solar array on the International Space Station.
“I thought, ‘Wow, she talked about something really technical, really logistically challenging,'” Glover said. “But the feeling was about the people.”
He realized, therefore, that while astronauts need technical ability, they also need to be taught something more difficult: social skills.
“You’re going to live in this tin with somebody for six months,” he said of staying on the space station. “We’re almost picking up family members.”
Glover proudly points to the diversity of backgrounds among current astronauts. “If you compare our office to the demographics of the country, we match the country very well,” he said.
In fact, diversity within NASA is higher than diversity in the private sector in some respects. The percentage of Black astronauts is higher than the percentage of Black people in the broader science and technology workforce, Glover said.
That’s the direct result of NASA’s sustained efforts over several decades to recruit astronauts beyond the traditional archetype, he said.
“Our office looks the way it does because of this bias, and thinking about our bias and how it might affect the person we hire,” he said. “I think that’s a huge win.”
But Glover acknowledged that diversity as an employment target was getting worse.
Critics include Elon Musk, the billionaire who runs SpaceX, the rocket company NASA relies on to carry cargo and astronauts — like Glover — to the International Space Station. NASA also hired SpaceX to land astronauts on the moon.
“His perspective on some things is a little bit disturbing,” Glover said of Musk.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment from Musk.
Musk has repeatedly called for the elimination of programs that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. “DEI is just another word for racism,” he posted in January on X, the social media network he owns.
Glover said he had just listened to a controversial interview that former CNN anchor Don Lemon did with Musk recently. “My mom sent it to me and said, ‘Does he remember you riding in his spaceship?’ ” he said. “I’m like, ‘Ma, he probably remembers vividly.’ He’s a great genius, but he probably doesn’t care.”
People ask him how he feels about being the first Black person to go on a lunar mission next year when Artemis II zooms by the moon without landing.
“Really, I’m sorry,” Glover said. “It’s 2025, and I’ll be the first? Come on.”
He told the story of Ed Dwight, the only Black Air Force pilot in the 1960s who met NASA’s restrictive requirements for astronauts at the time. But Dwight was never chosen.
“Ed Dwight could have done this in the ’60s,” Glover said. “How much better off would our country be if he got the chance? Society was not ready. It is not for him. It was ready.”
While Glover has heard some of the pushback to DEI initiatives, he feels strongly that seeking diversity is not about lowering standards and accepting less qualified candidates. “I think there should be nothing but excellence,” he said. “As long as whiteness or maleness does not equate to superiority, we are good. We are speaking the same language.”
Many applicants have been drawn by the potential glory of being the first astronauts to walk on Mars, a feat that NASA is aiming for in the 2030s.
But Glover also said they should consider the sacrifices they and their families might make along the way.
“The trip to Mars is six to nine months,” he said. “You will be away from acquaintance for more than a year, one year or three years. Are you really ready for that?”
c.2024 The New York Times Company
