NASA Opens Applications for the Next Astronaut Class, Pilot Hours on the Requirements List

NASA has opened applications for its next astronaut class, and pilots who have been building jet time have a legitimate path into the candidate pool. The pilot astronaut track requires a minimum of 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft - not total time, not simulator hours, not dual received. PIC time, jets, one thousand hours.

This is a rare opportunity with an extraordinarily competitive selection funnel. The class of 2017 drew more than 18,000 applicants and graduated 13 candidates. The math is worth understanding before you decide whether to invest the effort - but it’s also worth understanding that some of those 13 people were sitting in cockpits a few years earlier wondering the same thing you are now.

What Are the NASA Pilot Astronaut Requirements?

NASA’s astronaut candidate program runs two distinct tracks. The pilot astronaut track is built for people with significant flight experience. The mission specialist track is built around STEM credentials and professional technical expertise rather than flight hours.

For the pilot track, the core flight requirement is 1,000 hours PIC in jet aircraft. Military pilots and airline or corporate jet pilots reach this milestone through the natural arc of their careers. The requirement does not mandate military service and does not mandate test pilot school - though both carry weight in a competitive pool.

The application is submitted through USAJobs.gov, the standard federal employment portal. Be specific. The selection board reviews thousands of files, and vague language about your background doesn’t help you. Specific aircraft types, specific roles, specific numbers - those build a clear picture of who you are to a reviewer who is meeting you through paper.

Application windows for a typical class stay open for two to three months. Check the NASA website for the deadline specific to this cycle, and start building your application now rather than at the close.

Who Actually Gets Selected?

Flight time gets you into the candidate pool. It doesn’t get you selected.

The selection board evaluates the whole person: your career trajectory, your demonstrated ability to work under pressure in a team environment, your technical adaptability, your capacity to perform precise work while other demands compete for your attention. The pilots who make it through the rounds typically show a consistent pattern of taking on greater responsibility in demanding environments and performing well.

Military test pilots have historically dominated the pilot astronaut selections. Test pilot school produces exactly the skillset NASA values: systematic evaluation of unfamiliar aircraft, technical report writing under time pressure, engineering-precision briefings, and the ability to generate quality observations from the cockpit while simultaneously managing a demanding flight. That profile maps directly onto what a Crew Dragon commander or a lunar lander pilot needs.

The original Mercury 7, selected in 1959, were all military test pilots. Alan Shepard came out of the Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River. John Glenn came from the Marine Corps flight test program. Neil Armstrong, before his first step on the Moon, had flown more than 900 different models and variants of aircraft and had taken the X-15 above 200,000 feet.

The Commercial Era Has Widened the Door

The requirements have evolved, and that matters for civilian applicants.

The commercial crew era - SpaceX and Boeing flying astronauts to the International Space Station under NASA contract - pushed the selection criteria toward a more diverse pool of experience. The vehicles flying today are sophisticated, software-defined systems that have more in common with a modern glass cockpit aircraft than with Apollo-era hardware. The skills required to manage a Crew Dragon overlap meaningfully with the skills required to manage a high-performance jet in instrument conditions.

A military jet pilot who transitioned to the airlines is a competitive applicant. A corporate jet pilot with a strong technical background is a competitive applicant. The door is wider than it was in 1959. It is still narrow. But it is wider.

What the Next Astronaut Class Is Training For

The candidates selected from this application cycle are most likely to serve on the Artemis program - NASA’s mission to return humans to the lunar surface and develop the operational foundation for eventual crewed missions to Mars.

The Space Launch System (SLS) is currently the highest-payload-capacity rocket flying. The Orion capsule has completed an uncrewed test flight around the Moon and back. The lunar Gateway, a crewed outpost designed to orbit the Moon and serve as a staging point for surface operations, is in development with international partners including Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency.

Lunar operations impose demands that low Earth orbit does not. The Moon is 384,000 kilometers from Earth. Communication delays are present but manageable. Surface operations require substantially greater crew autonomy than any ISS mission. If something goes wrong on the lunar surface, the crew solves it.

Mars is a different order of magnitude. Communication delays of up to 20 minutes each way make real-time ground support functionally impossible. Transit time runs six to nine months in each direction. Surface crews will operate at a tempo that Earth cannot manage from a console regardless of how capable the support team is.

The astronauts selected now are the people most likely to walk on the Moon. Some may reach Mars within their careers. That is the program plan as it currently stands.

The Astronaut Candidate Program: What Happens After Selection

Being chosen for the astronaut candidate program does not make you an astronaut on day one. You become an astronaut candidate - an ASCAN. The ASCAN program runs approximately two years.

That training covers systems knowledge for the vehicles you might fly: Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner for ISS missions, Orion for lunar missions. Each is a substantial technical curriculum. Training also includes:

Spacewalk work in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at Johnson Space Center - a 6.2-million-gallon pool where full-scale models of station modules are submerged for EVA procedure practice.
T-38 Talon proficiency flying throughout your career. The T-38 is the supersonic trainer the Air Force uses for undergraduate pilot training. Astronaut candidates fly it not for missions, but to maintain the crew coordination, aircraft handling judgment, and decision-making habits that justify putting pilots in spacecraft.
Russian language instruction for those assigned to ISS rotations.
Survival training for off-nominal landing scenarios.

After completing the ASCAN program, you become a full astronaut - and you wait. Many astronauts serve years between completing training and their first flight assignment. The work in between is real: supporting missions from the ground, training other crews, working mission control as a capsule communicator, contributing to vehicle development.

This is not a career for someone who wants to fly next year. It is a career for someone who can commit the next decade or more to the possibility of going.

Physical Requirements for Pilot Astronaut Candidates

NASA requires candidates to pass a Class One astronaut physical, which is similar to but more comprehensive than an FAA first-class medical.

Height is a constraint driven by suit fit and vehicle geometry. The accepted range runs from approximately 62 to 75 inches. Visual acuity requirements have been updated over the years - corrected vision is now accepted in ways it was not in earlier eras of the program. If you were told years ago that your eyes disqualified you, read the current requirements before making that assumption. The standard has evolved.

Blood pressure, cardiovascular health, and general medical history all factor in. The baseline is familiar to any pilot who has sat in an aviation medical examiner’s office, but expect greater depth.

How to Apply

Applications are submitted through USAJobs.gov. The process is a federal employment application, with the precision that implies.

Letters of recommendation carry significant weight. Your references need to speak specifically to the qualities NASA evaluates: leadership under pressure, technical judgment, and the ability to function as part of a small high-stakes team. Have a direct conversation with your references about what NASA is actually looking for before you ask them to write. A reference who understands the context writes a substantially better letter than one who is working in the dark.

The official requirements and application link are at NASA.gov. The application window for this class will be posted there. Do not wait for the deadline to organize your logbook hours or identify your references.

Key Takeaways

NASA has opened applications for the next astronaut class; pilots with 1,000 hours of jet PIC time meet the core flight requirement for the pilot astronaut track.
The class of 2017 received 18,000+ applications and selected 13 candidates - the funnel is narrow, but the door is open.
Military test pilot experience remains the strongest profile, but commercial and airline pilots are competitive applicants in the post-commercial-crew era.
Selected candidates enter a ~2-year ASCAN program covering spacecraft systems, EVA training, T-38 proficiency flying, and survival training before becoming full astronauts.
Applications are submitted through USAJobs.gov; check NASA.gov for the current deadline and do not wait until the last week to organize your materials.