To become an astronaut in NASA candidates must have completed STEM, 2 years professional experience, 1000 pilot in command time and some more qualification needed. This blog tells all about the requirement to become a NASA astronaut and after selection the training process is also explained.
Quick notes – To become an astronaut you need US citizenship, STEM field, 2 year professional experience, 1000 hours pilot in command time, long duration flight, doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathic medicine degree.
To become an astronaut crop in NASA is not an easy task because a person needs to crack exams and interviews. After becoming an astronaut one can earn good money in the US.
How to become astronaut in NASA requirements
- Astronaut requirements to join NASA are mentioned below:
- The applying candidate must be a United States citizen.
- The candidate must have a masters degree (completed) in a STEM field including biological science, computer science, physical science or mathematics.
- After degree completion the candidate must have a related professional experience of 2 years.
- In case not having professional experience the candidate must have at least 1000 hours pilot in command time on jet aircraft.
- It is compulsory for the candidate to pass NASA long duration flight astronaut physical.
- Some important candidature skills required in leadership, communication and teamwork.
- 2 years of work required in a doctoral program related to science, technology, engineering or maths.
- A degree related to doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathic medicine is required.
- Nationally recognized test pilot school program completion is required.
Requirements for mission specialist educator in NASA
The applicants must have a bachelor’s degree with a relative teaching experience.
The candidate must have experience to work at the Kindergarten through twelfth grade level.
A master’s degree or doctorate degree is not required but strongly desired.
Astronaut training in NASA
After getting selected as an astronaut in NASA they have to go through 20 months training in different areas. Training for extravehicular activity in a facility such as NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) is mandatory. NBL is located at the Sony Carter Training Facility near the Johnson Space Centre in Houston Texas.
Activity done by astronauts in outer space outside a spacecraft is known as EVA or Extravehicular activity in NASA terms. The activity is done in the absence of breathable earth like atmosphere. It is tough training preparing astronauts for space, in the training the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. Spacewalks and lunar or planetary surface exploration are involved in Extravehicular activity (EVA).
During the training period astronaut candidates may also experience the short period of weightlessness in “Vomit Comet” aircraft. Astronauts need to accumulate a number of flight hours in high performance Jet aircraft. Due to its proximity to the Johnson Space Centre mostly T-38 jet aircraft are used out of Ellington field. Shuttle training aircraft are also maintained and developed in the Ellington field. However, Edward Air Force Base is the place from where most flights of the aircraft are conducted.
Astronaut term
A professional space traveller is known as an astronaut. The word astronaut may have been inspired by “aeronaut” and aeronaut was an older term applied in 1784 to balloonists. In 1950 International Astronautical Congress was established. It was the first non formal use of the term astronautic in the scientific community.
According to NASA Astronaut is any crew member aboard a NASA spacecraft bound for Earth orbit or beyond. NASA also uses the term for those who are selected to join their Astronaut corp. Similarly the European space agency uses the term astronaut for members of its Astronaut corp.
Astronaut salary per month in NASA US
Astronauts in NASA are earning around $60,000 to $70,000. Some astronauts are earning even more somewhere around $120,000. Whereas, data scientist salary is around $245,000 based on equity. Data scientists also get a good bonus apart from the salary.
NASA scientist salary per month would be around $20416.66. Master in data science, good stats and machine learning are the basic needs to become a NASA scientist. NASA scientist training makes every candidate closer to becoming a practical scientist.
Read more
