by NASA astronauts Victor Glover, pilot of Artemis II, and Christina Hammock Koch, mission specialist of Artemis II, participate in a NASA news conference on August 8, 2023, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit – NASA/Kim Shiflett
Rrecently, I applied to be an astronaut. I’d like to be able to say there’s a non-zero chance of being accepted, but it’s more like sub-zero. Not many people can actually recall Sputnik—launched, for the record, on October 4, 1957—old enough to climb atop a rocket. Still, I filled out the nine-page form and sent it in, even though I have no doubt I’ll end up in the cosmic slush pile.
You might have better luck, though. NASA is hiring; on March 5 it opened its doors to a new class of 12 or so astronauts and will be accepting applications until April 2, although it is considering extending the deadline to accommodate more applicants. The salary is $152,258; the Johnson Space Center in Houston is the place of employment – and work trips to space, you know. But you better prepare yourself for disappointment. NASA hires a new astronaut class every four years or so, and back in 2015, a peak year, there were about 12,000 applicants — a number that could be matched this time, too, says April Jordan, NASA’s astronaut hiring manager.
“There were definitely some things going on in the world then, like The Martyr coming out,” says Jordan. The rise of the private space sector and the start of NASA’s Artemis moon program could similarly turbocharge things in 2024. Not all of the applications in 2015 were entirely serious, and things are likely to be the same now. “We have a fair number of people who apply only to get rejected,” says Jordan. Likewise, the untold thousands will be seriously affected, and NASA is making a special effort in this recruitment round to signal that it is becoming more equitable, more than ever accepting candidate astronauts who are not fits the narrow fighter. profile.
In 1958, when America began casting its first seven astronauts, candidates had to meet a series of strict standards, including being military test pilots with more than 1,500 hours in the hole; have a degree in physical sciences or engineering; standing no more than five feet, eleven inches high, in order to fit on the tiny Mercury spacecraft, and more. Then too, there were the unspoken criteria: the people chosen were all white, all men, all family men.
Those walls have been coming down for a long time, but only slowly: After more than 65 years in the space game, NASA has flown 329 astronauts, 54 of them women. The numbers are even lower for Black Americans, with only 17 making trips to space. Still, progress is accelerating. In 2020, the space agency announced the 18 astronauts it had selected for the Artemis lunar missions it plans to launch next year; nine of the staff members are women and 10 are people of color, three are women of color, and two are Hispanic.
“More than a decade ago, NASA decided that equity and inclusion would be part of its core values,” says Victor Glover, a Navy aviator and Iraq war veteran who was selected in the astronaut class of 2013 and spent six months aboard the International Space Station . Station in 2020 and 2021. He will also become the first Black person to visit the moon when he and the other three members of the Artemis II crew make a circumnavigation in September 2025. The team also includes Christina Koch, the first woman assigned to a lunar mission. “[NASA’s] Because of the decisions that were made we have an astronaut office that looks very similar to America,” says Glover.
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A NASA astronaut application is, in many ways, like most job applications—with sections to list education, work experience, references, and more. Military service is also included, but not the full criterion it once was. The astronauts who make it through the current selection process will not only be diverse demographically, but professionally as well. NASA in the 21st century especially appreciates the firefighters and first responders. “They’re people who go into dangerous situations,” says Jordan. Former collegiate athletes are also attractive for what Jordan calls “team skills.” However, the application leaves no mistake about how specific the talents required for an astronaut gig will be.
“The duties of this position require a moderate to strenuous amount of physical exertion including walking, standing, heavy lifting, crouching, crawling and exposure to harsh weather. Are you willing to do hard physical activities as part of your duties?” one part of the form reads.
“Astronauts and astronaut candidates live, work and train in isolated, remote, small or confined spaces for long periods of time,” reads another. “Are you willing to spend long periods of time in remote, isolated, small or confined spaces?”
And then there’s the one that could cause many candidacies to be cancelled: “[Astronaut] training requires extensive travel…when family members are not always able to participate. Are you willing to participate in extended travel and stays away from home?”
For Glover, who is married and the father of four girls, that question required a lot of thought. “There’s this myth about work-life balance,” he says. “I don’t use that term. This job changes your life and your relationships forever. Some astronauts have spouses and kids and some don’t, but you still have parents and siblings and a whole life to manage.”
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Perhaps the toughest part of the vetting process is the personal interview with NASA’s selection board, a 10- to 12-person committee made up mostly of astronauts, as well as senior NASA officials such as flight directors. One of the requirements for that meeting is that candidates must write a short one-page story on any topic they choose. So, Glover took the opportunity, composing an essay on it called Girls Like Astronauts. The selection panel didn’t have to go far with what Glover had written before realizing that the girls he was writing about were actually daughters.
“When you first see the title it’s like, ‘Oh my god, what’s this about?'” he says. “But then I talk about the romance of space and aviation, it’s something I have to carry for a while and bring back to my girls. And maybe it would help them be proud of me.”
Glover took another chance when the board asked him about a mistake he made in his life and what he learned from it. For a pilot hoping to take the next step from jets to spacecraft, a near-miss in the bag seems like something to avoid, but Glover had one such incident during his Naval service, and decided to tell. the truth. The incident occurred when he was taking part in an air show, flying off the aircraft carrier George Washington near Japan. Most of the maneuvers the pilots flew were scripted, but Glover chose to improvise one, flying over the water at 95% of the speed of sound, then rotating to a nose-down position before climbing again. The sky was clear except for one cloud, which rose directly in his path, causing him to fly too low.
“I realized that I could clearly see bubbles in the water,” he says. “I pulled the stick into my lap and bottomed out at 32 feet above the water.”
Glover flew back to the carrier, apologized to the commander for what he admitted was putting on a showboat and promised it would never happen again. A gunnery officer then invited Glover to take a moment of privacy in his office. He accepted and, when he was alone, cried.
“The board is not just looking for achievers,” says Glover. “Everyone has messed up in their life, and it’s how you overcome it and what you learn about yourself that matters.” That bit of honesty has obviously rubbed off on the selection committee – setting Glover on a trajectory that will take him to the moon, in 18 months’ time.
I will almost certainly not be following it. Less than an hour after submitting my application I received a polite acknowledgment from NASA. “Thank you for your interest…and for applying to be an astronaut candidate,” it read. “You have successfully submitted your initial request.”
My success will surely stop there. Still, we live in a time when even people like me can dream a little dream and live a little fantasy. Space travel was once only the province of a certain kind of person—a particular person. That, happily, has changed. We don’t all get to fly, but we all see ourselves in those who do.
Write to Jeffrey Kluger at jeffrey.kluger@time.com.
