U.S. astronaut Terry Virts tweeted his followers this image after completing a series of spacewalks with his partner astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore to prepare the International Space Station for upcoming U.S. commercial spacecraft currently in developmen (Photo : NASA)
NASA is now searching for a few good men and women to join its Astronaut Corps since 2011.
The American space agency is now posting new round openings since the United States is now in the process of developing more human spacecraft today than any other time in history.
The NASA announcement says that future astronauts will now launch again from the Space Coast of Florida by American made commercial spacecraft for deep space exploration missions leading up to the future mission of sending humans to Mars.
NASA will begin to accept applications from December 14 to mid February 2016.
Interested applicants should be able to possess a bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics that also includes at least three years of related work or study and even teaching experience or even at least 1,000 hours spent flying a jet aircraft. The space agency also prefers advanced degrees where teachers are also encouraged to apply.
Of course, there are fitness requirements that are needed by NASA and the applicant should possess a height between 5"2 to 6"3.
Selected ones will have the opportunity to work in the International Space Station and two commercial spaceflight programs including a deep space exploration vehicle called Orion under development which is slated to bring humans to Mars.
According to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, since there was a long break from hiring astronauts, NASA plans to push new boundaries for space exploration where all efforts will be set on Mars. On his statement, he says that this next group of American space explorers will inspire the next generation to reach and focus on higher goals of making historical boot prints on the Red Planet.
Those who will be selected for this service will also fly on a U.S. made spacecraft from American soil where they will conduct crucial science and research onboard the International Space Station in order to push the boundaries of technology in deep space.
Humans began exploring space since the 1960s where more than 300 people already became astronauts as 47 are currently working and active, says NASA. However since 1999, the number was cut down to a third when the space program used to have greater funding but this call for new astronauts may be a telltale sign that the space program may be changing.
To date, this is NASA's first new round of hiring in more than four years after the shutting down of the Space Shuttle. In the last recruitment round, eight astronauts were hired from 6,300 submitted applications.
Right now, NASA astronauts can only enter lower Earth orbit via the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that can fit three people launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Central Asia. The crew aboard the ISS is composed of six astronauts at any given time where a seventh addition is slated to arrive by 2018.
