NASA recruits astronauts for the conquest of Mars – TF1

The list of happy selected will be announced in mid-2017. Drivers, engineers, scientists or doctors, the NASA said on Wednesday that it would be recruiting astronauts for future missions around the Moon, and to prepare the conquest of Mars. The US space agency will accept applications from 14 December to mid-February 2016.

“This next group of American Explorers space will help us achieve the goal to put humans on the Red Planet, “said the head of NASA, Charles Bolden, himself a former astronaut. “Those who will be selected will fly on American vessels launched from the floor of the United States, will make essential progress in the Science and research aboard the International Space Station and help push the boundaries of technology in deep space, “he said.

The Orion capsule will send men beyond Earth’s orbit, a first since 1969

apply, the contenders must have US citizenship and have at least one license (“Bachelor”) in engineering, biology, physical science or mathematics, issued by a recognized academic institution. But it is better to be holds a master’s or doctoral degree. Applicants must also have at least three years of professional experience in the fields of science, or at least a thousand flying hours for pilots. Finally, they must pass the medical examination of NASA indicating that they are physically able to perform long-term space flights. NASA reminded that there will be in the coming years an unprecedented number of manned spaceflight.

The next class of astronauts will fly four different ships: the International Space Station (ISS), two private vessels, the CST-100 Starliner Boeing and SpaceX Dragon, which should enter service in 2017 and Orion. This is the first capsule that NASA will be able to carry crews beyond Earth orbit from 2021 and for the first time since the Apollo program of conquest of the moon in 1969. Since their capacity, the CST-100 Starliner and the Dragon will add a seventh member permanent crew of the ISS, which conducts six-month rotations.

More than 300 astronauts selected since the creation of the agency

This additional member will double the amount of time astronauts spend in space research in the orbital outpost to prepare for a trip to Mars. They will be able to study the effects of microgravity on the human body for long periods of weightlessness and see how to protect cosmic radiation that increase the risk of cancer. “This is an exciting time to be part of the US manned space exploration program,” assured Brian Kelly, director of human flight of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where astronauts trained and based.

To date and since the beginning of space activities in the late 1950s, NASA has selected more than 300 astronauts to perform space flights that have had a significant beneficial impact on Earth . The active astronaut corps has at present 47 members, against 149 in 2000 at the peak of the space shuttle program. But more staff will be required for the crews of future missions to the ISS and to distant destinations in space.