NASA has opened applications for its 25th astronaut class, the agency's first recruitment call in two years. Candidates are being sought for missions that will take them to low Earth orbit, the lunar surface and the Artemis program's planned flights.
The call was announced at the Max Power event at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Applications close on 3 December 2026, and NASA expects to name the selected candidates in late 2027. Applicants apply through the federal jobs portal USAJobs.gov.
Eligibility rules are strict. Candidates must be US citizens holding a master's degree in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics field, plus three years of relevant professional experience. Pilot applicants need at least 1,000 hours as pilot-in-command, 850 of them in high-performance jets. All candidates must pass a physical suited for long-duration spaceflight.
The program has a small history. Since the Mercury 7 were chosen in 1959, NASA has selected only about 370 astronauts. The most recent group, the 24th class selected in 2025, had ten members and included more women than men. One of its members, Anna Menon, previously flew on the commercial Polaris Dawn mission, a sign of how private spaceflight now overlaps with agency crews.
NASA has not yet said what nickname the incoming class will carry. The 2025 group was informally called the Platypi. The agency's plans also depend on the future of the International Space Station, which could be extended beyond 2030 if a commercial replacement is delayed.
Credit. Based on reporting by Sawyer Rosenstein for NASASpaceflight. Is this your work? Write to us.
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