More than 18, 300 people applied for 14 or more NASA classes, breaking the record from 1978, when the number of applicants was 8000.
(It has been a long time since 1978. Now, every 9 years, new astronauts are selected who want to study the vast space). For about a month, another set was announced, where girls were among those willing.
Potential astronauts began filing their applications on December 14 and ended on February 18. The total number of applicants is close to the set of candidates for NASA astronauts from 2012. At that time, the number of applicants was barely more than 6, 300 people.
“It’s not at all surprising to me that so many Americans of various origins want to personally contribute to the success of our trip to Mars,” said NASA administrator Charles Bolden, in a statement. "Some exceptionally talented men and women will become astronauts selected in my group, which is very young, to fly from American soil to Mars with the help of an American-made spacecraft." Bolden himself is a former astronaut selected as one of 19 volunteers in 1980.
In the next 18 months, NASA's astronaut selection board will narrow the number of applicants. Those selected will be interviewed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Ultimately, NASA will select 8 people from the previously selected 14. Next, the training of young people will begin.
The training process will take approximately two years and will include “learning on spacecraft related systems, the basics of going into outer space, teamwork, Russian language and other necessary skills,” NASA scientists said in a statement.
Ultimately, those who successfully complete all the training will be sent either to the International Space Station or to the NASA Orion spacecraft, the Boeing-100C Startline or the SpaceX Dragon ship. Orion is currently under development. He will begin his work in the early 2020s based on a systemic megarakety. The ship will be able to place on its board a team that can live there for 21 days. After adding some modules, space flights will be longer. This is especially true for flights to Mars and just for a long distance in open space. Both the startliner and the dragon are in the development stages. The work is helped by the commercial program of the NASA team. She promised to find four astronauts to work on the space station. But first I would like to say that the NASA astronaut selection board has its full set of willing candidates for the next 2017 year.
“We have received a huge number of applications,” said Brian Kelly, director of operations and flights at the Johnson Space Center, in a statement. “But it’s good to know that so many people recognize that this is a great opportunity to be part of NASA’s exciting mission. I hope to meet men and women talented enough to reach the most hidden corners of our vast cosmos, which has many secrets.”
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