Applications are being accepted for perhaps the most daunting of broadening assignments — an opportunity to train and serve in NASA's the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s astronaut program.
The Army's fiscal 2016 astronaut candidate screening and nomination board will meet in March on a date yet to be specified.
Active-component soldiers selected by the panel will then compete with other military and civilian applicants for selection to the NASA astronaut candidate program, a rigorous, two-year training regimen for spaceflight duty.
Active-component soldiers should apply per the instruction in MilPer Message 15-364, which was issued Nov. 13.
National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers should apply per instructions at this NASA website: http://astronauts.nasa.gov/content/broch00.htm.
The two-part application consists of an electronic submission to be sent directly to NASA via the www.usajobs.gov website, and a paper application for the Army astronaut screening board.
The deadline for both applications is Feb.18.
Soldiers of all ranks may apply, but they must meet strict application criteria that includes:
- A bachelor’s degree or higher in engineering, a biological science, physical science, computer science or mathematics. Degrees in the following related fields are not qualifying: technology (engineering technology, aviation technology and medical technology), psychology (except clinical, physiological and experimental psychology are considered qualifying), nursing, exercise physiology and similar fields, the social sciences and aviation, and aviation management and similar fields.
- Applicants must pass the NASA long-duration astronaut space flight physical, which is similar to the Army’s Class II Flight Physical.
The application process is complex, and interested soldiers should consult MilPer Message 15-364 for guidance.
