NASA opened applications for its next astronaut class, offering a starting salary of $164,395 for candidates who will live and work on a future lunar base, npr.org reported.
Applicants have until 11:59 p.m. ET on December 3, 2026, to submit their materials on NASA’s website, Gizmodo reported. The agency expects to select its final candidates in late 2027, according to The Guardian.
In a recent change, NASA now accepts master’s-level nursing degrees as meeting the minimum educational requirement, spokesperson Anna Schneider told npr.org.
Applicants also need a minimum of three years of related professional experience after completing their degree, npr.org reported. Alternatively, The Guardian noted that the agency considers candidates enrolled in a STEM PhD program, medical doctors, or pilots with extensive flight experience.
Selected candidates will undergo a two-year training program to prepare for missions landing near the moon’s South Pole, npr.org reported. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stated that the roles demand technical excellence, sound judgment, teamwork, and courage.
“Those missions will demand technical excellence, sound judgment, teamwork, and courage,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in a statement released on Saturday.
NASA currently has 32 active astronauts in its corps and has selected 370 people since the 1960s, npr.org reported. The applicant pool is extremely competitive, with only 10 candidates chosen out of more than 8,000 applicants during the previous selection cycle, according to npr.org and The Guardian.
To support its goal of returning humans to the moon in 2028, NASA is relying on private companies including SpaceX and Blue Origin to develop spacecraft and delivery systems, npr.org reported. Isaacman stated during a November 7 press conference that he remained very confident the Artemis III mission would launch in 2027.
Those who are accepted will join NASA as America returns to the Moon, builds the Moon Base, and lays the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars,
the agency said in an announcement, adding that they will train to operate on the lunar surface, live and work beyond Earth, and take on missions that will push the boundaries of human exploration farther than ever before.
NASA will select its new crop of space-farers in late 2027,
and the agency has also opened bidding to eight companies for contracts for future lunar surface delivery missions
as part of the second phase of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.