More Than 18,000 People Apply To Be NASA Astronauts, Smashing '70s Record

[Buster's Uncle]

More Than 18,000 People Apply To Be NASA Astronauts, Smashing Previous Record Set In ‘70s
Libby Plummer's Yahoo Tech Tumblr  8 hours ago

 

Image credit: NASA



A staggering 18,300 people responded to NASA’s call for applications to join its astronaut programme, three times more than the number that applied for the previous astronaut class in 2012.

The new figure is more than double that of the previous record set in 1978 when 8,000 people applied, perhaps inspired by Star Wars which was released in 1977.

“It’s not at all surprising to me that so many Americans from diverse backgrounds want to personally contribute to blazing the trail on our journey to Mars,” said NASA Administrator and former astronaut Charlie Bolden.

“A few exceptionally talented men and women will become the astronauts chosen in this group who will once again launch to space from U.S. soil on American-made spacecraft.”

Applications for the latest astronaut class opened in 14 December 2015 and closed last week on 18 February.

NASA will take around 18 months to sift through the applications and select 8-14 possible candidates who will then go to a further selection board.

The American space agency is expected to announce the initial selection in mid-2017.

The successful candidates will go through two years of astronaut training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Astronauts who complete the training will then be assigned either to the International Space Station, the Orion spacecraft for deep space exploration or one of two commercial crew spacecraft currently being developed by Boeing and SpaceX.


http://news.yahoo.com/more-than-18000-people-apply-to-be-nasa-134029274.html