NASA is opening job vacancies for astronauts with salaries up to $152,000

Americans who have long dreamed of becoming NASA astronauts will finally have the chance. The US Space Agency is looking for new candidates for space missions.

The vacant positions were allocated to the Artemis program, which aims to transport the first woman and next man to the moon in 2024, more than half a century after the first lunar mission.

The Artemis generation astronauts will explore and conduct experiments where humans have never been before: the Moon's south pole.

The next generation of astronauts has been named Group 23. The salary is attractive: US$152,000 (about R$750,000) per year.

Astronaut candidates will spend about two years training in basic skills, including spacewalking, robotics and teamwork.

To be considered for an astronaut position, candidates must meet the following requirements:

• Be a US citizen;
• Have a master's degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.
• You must have at least two years of professional experience related to the field of the diploma or at least 1,000 flight hours as a pilot.

Hey Registration deadline It's April 2nd.

How is a new astronaut selected?

NASA's Astronaut Selection Board reviews applications and evaluates each candidate's qualifications.

Next, the Board of Directors invites a small group of the most qualified candidates to interviews at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas (USA).

NASA invites about half of the interviewees back for second interviews. From this group, NASA selects new astronaut candidates.

Plan for Artemis

Artemis 3 will be the third mission in NASA's Artemis program. They are a series of increasingly difficult missions targeting the Moon – designed to establish a sustainable human presence on the satellite.

The program began in November 2022, with the arrival of the Artemis 1 mission into lunar orbit. The Artemis 2 mission is scheduled to repeat this achievement with a crew on board the Orion spacecraft, at the end of 2024. The third mission, in 2025, will put humans on lunar soil. But many experts believe this ambitious plan is unrealistic.