NASA wants astronauts for the Moon and you have until 3 December (if you hold a US passport)
Applications for NASA's next astronaut class opened on 7 November and close at 11.59pm Eastern on Thursday 3 December (4.59am Friday in Lisbon). Candidates need US citizenship, a STEM master's or equivalent and three years' experience. Last time, more than 8,000 people applied for 10 places.
Apply / Learn moreNASA is hiring astronauts again. Applications for its next class opened on 7 November and close at 11.59pm US Eastern time on Thursday 3 December. In Portugal, that is 4.59am on Friday the 4th.
The agency wants more people for its Artemis missions to the Moon. It expects to make the final picks in late 2027, when training starts.
Who can apply to be a NASA astronaut?
The first condition rules out most of our readers straight away: you must be a US citizen. For Portuguese-Americans and dual nationals, the rest of the list looks like this:
- a master’s degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or computer science from an accredited institution;
- or at least two years of doctoral work in those fields (or maths), a medical degree, or a recognised test pilot school finished by July 2027, on top of a STEM bachelor’s;
- three years of relevant professional experience after that degree;
- pilots can count flying hours instead: 750 hours as pilot in command of high-performance jets, or 1,500 hours on other fixed-wing aircraft (750 in command), or 1,000 on helicopters (300 in command);
- a pass in NASA’s long-duration spaceflight medical.
Doctors can count their residency, as long as it is done by July 2027.
How competitive is NASA astronaut selection?
Very. In the last round, in 2024, more than 8,000 people applied and NASA took 10 in 2025, who are now partway through almost two years of training. That works out at more than 800 applicants for every place.
Since the 1960s NASA has chosen 370 astronaut candidates, and 32 are active today. This class will learn spacewalking, lunar geology and how to fly high-performance jets.
What if you don’t have a US passport?
Then NASA’s door stays shut, but space work is not only for astronauts. Portugal has hosted, for instance, a call for researchers to join a simulated Mars mission in the Alentejo. The NASA application itself is online only, through the page linked in the official announcement, and the call does not state a salary.
Image: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas
