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Total Lunar Eclipse at Moonset via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2CuHpW7

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The Final Few

The final selection depends upon candidates successful, satisfactory completion of the training and evaluation period. Graduation from the Astronaut Candidate Program will require successful completion of the following subjects:  International Space Station systems training extravehicular Activity Skills training, Robotics Skills training, Russian Language training, and aircraft flight readiness training.

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Under Pressure.

The astronaut candidates are also exposed to many of the common problems associated with high, or hyperbaric, and low, or hypobaric atmospheric pressures in capsules called altitude chambers. These altitude chambers teach the candidates how to deal with emergencies associated with hyperbaric or hypobaric conditions. In addition to these altitude chambers, Candidates are given exposure to the microgravity of space flights in a modified jet aircraft (known as the KC-135 or the “Vomit Comet”) that performs parabolic maneuvers that produce intervals of pure “weightlessness” for about 20 seconds and then returns to the original altitude. This sequence of events is repeated up to 40 times a day.

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Sink Or Swim

Selected applicants are designated Astronaut Candidates and are thus assigned to the Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The Candidates undergo training and an evaluation period that lasts approximately two years. During this time they will participate in the basic Astronaut Candidate training program, designated to develop the knowledge and skills required for formal mission training upon selection for a mission. Candidates are required to complete military water survival before beginning their “flying syllabus” and need to become SCUBA certified to prepare them for their spacewalk training. Candidates need to pass a swimming test during their first month of training. They are required to swim three lengths of a 25-meter pool (without stopping), and then swim three lengths of the pool in a flight suit and tennis shoes, this time with no time limit. They are also required to tread water continuously for ten minutes wearing a flight suit. They can be submerged in the water working on large scale models of space vehicles for up to seven hours at a time. 

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Following the preliminary screening of applicants by the NASA Astronaut Selection Board, a week-long process personal interviews, medical screening, and orientation are required for applicants that are under final consideration.

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Qualifications

However, in addition to extensive flight experience and engineering expertise, the subject of space exploration requires substantial scientific knowledge, along with the ability to apply it. By 1964, NASA’s prime emphasis made a great shift from jet experience towards superior academic qualifications, including but not limited to:

A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics

The following degrees, while related to engineering and the sciences, are not considered qualifying:

Degrees in technology (engineering technology, aviation technology, medical technology, etc.)

Degrees in psychology, omitting clinical psychology, physiological psychology, or experimental psychology.

Degrees in nursing

Degrees in aviation, aviation management or similar fields

At least three years of related professional experience obtained after the degree completion OR at least 1,000 hours pilot-in-command time on jet aircraft. 

Critical skills in leadership, teamwork, and communications

The ability to pass the NASA long-duration space flight (or astronaut) physical, which includes the following very specific requirements:

Distant and near visual acuity must be correctable to 20/20 in each eye

Blood pressure not exceeding 140/90 in a sitting position 

Candidate must have a standing height of 62-75 inches

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Introduction

NASA is known for its out of this world space exploration and within the next few decades, humans could be stepping foot on the Red Planet, or at least that’s the plan as NASA continues to expand human exploration in the Solar System.

The Military first began the astronaut selection process in 1959, requiring the applicants to have had extensive flight experience in jet aircraft and a background in any type of engineering. In addition to that, applicants had to be shorter than 5’11 due to limited space in the Mercury Space Capsule- the first human spaceflight program of the United States and a very early highlight in the Space Race against the Soviet Union.