How to Become an Astronaut

Instructions
Things You'll Need:

* NASA online information
* Individual school requirements and application
* Health club memberships
* Academic counselings
* College catalogs
* Postage stamps

1.
1

Know that you must be between 5 feet 4 inches and 6 feet 4 inches tall to be a pilot and between 4 feet 10 1/2 inches and 6 feet 4 inches to be a mission specialist. You also need to be in top physical condition and have great stamina.
2.
2

Maintain an excellent academic record in your undergraduate and graduate studies. Many astronauts have doctoral degrees.
3.
3

Choose a scientific field for your bachelor's degree that you can use if you become an astronaut. Possibilities include medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, aerospace engineering and mathematics.
4.
4

Make certain you have at least 3 years of work experience in your field before applying as a mission specialist. An acceptable substitution might be a 2-year graduate degree with 1 year of experience.
5.
5

Have at least 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft, preferably with flight-test experience, if you wish to be a mission pilot.
6.
6

Send for an application package (see Tips for the address). You'll have to pass the strict NASA physical as a basic qualification.
7.
7

Realize that if you're accepted as an astronaut candidate, you're committing yourself to a training period of 1 to 2 years in Houston without a guarantee that you'll ever go into space. Training will be intense and often in low-gravity conditions. It will include land and sea survival training and scuba diving.
8.
8

Prepare to remain with NASA for at least 5 years if you pass the training period and are accepted as an astronaut.