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The NASA Astronaut Corps is a unit of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members for U.S. and international space missions. It is based at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The first U.S. astronaut candidates were selected by NASA in 1959, for its Project Mercury with the objective of orbiting astronauts around the Earth in single-man capsules. The military services were asked to provide a list of military test pilots who met specific qualifications. After stringent screening, NASA announced its selection of the "Mercury Seven" as its first astronauts. Since then, NASA has selected 22 more groups of astronauts, opening the corps to civilians, scientists, doctors, engineers, and school teachers. As of the 2009 Astronaut Class, 61% of the astronauts selected by NASA have come from military service. [1]
NASA selects candidates from a diverse pool of applicants with a wide variety of backgrounds. From the thousands of applications received, only a few are chosen for the intensive astronaut candidate training program. Including the "Original Seven", 339 candidates have been selected to date. [2]
The Astronaut Corps is based at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, although members may be assigned to other locations based on mission requirements, e.g. Soyuz training at Star City, Russia.
The Chief of the Astronaut Office is the most senior leadership position for active astronauts in the Corps. The Chief Astronaut serves as head of the Corps and is the principal adviser to the NASA Administrator on astronaut training and operations. The first Chief Astronaut was Deke Slayton, appointed in 1962. The current Chief Astronaut is Joe Acaba.
Salaries for newly hired civilian astronauts are based on the federal government's General Schedule pay scale for grades GS-11 through GS-14. The astronaut's grade is based on the astronaut's academic achievements and experience. [3] Astronauts can be promoted up to grade GS-15. [4] As of 2015, astronauts based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, earn between $66,026 (GS-11 step 1) and $158,700 (GS-15 step 8 and above). [5] As of the new astronaut candidate class announcement of 2024, astronaut candidates will be removed from the GS pay scale and be paid on an AD 'Administratively Determined" scale.
Military astronauts are detailed to the Johnson Space Center and remain on active duty for pay, benefits, leave, and similar military matters.
There are no age restrictions for the NASA Astronaut Corps. Astronaut candidates have ranged between the ages of 26 and 46, with the average age being 34. Candidates must be U.S. citizens to apply for the program.
There are three broad categories of qualifications: education, work experience, and medical. [6]
Candidates must have a master's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. [7] The degree must be followed by at least two to three years of related, progressively responsible, professional experience (graduate work or studies) or at least 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft. An advanced degree is desirable and may be substituted for experience, such as a doctoral degree (which counts as the two years experience). Teaching experience, including experience at the K–12 levels, is considered to be qualifying experience.
Candidates must have the ability to pass the NASA long-duration space flight physical, which includes the following specific requirements:
As of October 2024 [update] , the corps has 47 "active" astronauts consisting of 20 women and 27 men [8] The highest number of active astronauts at one time was in 2000 when there were 149. [9] All of the current astronaut corps are from the classes of 1996 (Group 16) or later.
Missions in italics are scheduled and subject to change.
There are currently[ citation needed ] 19 "international active astronauts", "who are assigned to duties at the Johnson Space Center", [10] who were selected by their home agency to train as part of a NASA Astronaut Group and serve alongside their NASA counterparts. While the international astronauts, Payload Specialists, and Spaceflight Participants go through training with the NASA Astronaut Corps, they are not considered members of the corps.
As of October 2024 [update] , the corps has 12 "management" astronauts, who remain NASA employees but are no longer eligible for flight assignment. The management astronauts included personnel chosen to join the corps as early as 1987 (Group 12) and as recently as 2009 (Group 20). [11]
| Astronaut | Center | Assignment | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yvonne Cagle | Ames Research Center | Fordham University visiting professor | 16 (1996) |
| Ken Bowersox | NASA Headquarters | Associate Administrator for Space Operations | 12 (1987) |
| Alvin Drew | NASA Headquarters | 18 (2000) | |
| Pamela Melroy | NASA Headquarters | Deputy Administrator | 15 (1994) |
| Joseph Acaba | Johnson Space Center | Chief of the Astronaut Office | 19 (2004) |
| Richard Arnold | Johnson Space Center | CAPCOM | 19 (2004) |
| Serena Auñón-Chancellor | Johnson Space Center | Medical branch / CAPCOM | 20 (2009) |
| Timothy Creamer | Johnson Space Center | Flight director | 17 (1998) |
| James Kelly | Johnson Space Center | CAPCOM | 16 (1996) |
| Richard Linnehan | Johnson Space Center | Exploration and Integration branches | 14 (1992) |
| Stanley Love | Johnson Space Center | Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office | 17 (1998) |
| Lee Morin | Johnson Space Center | Exploration branch | 16 (1996) |
The term "Astronaut Candidate" (informally "ASCAN" [12] ) refers to individuals who have been selected by NASA as candidates for the NASA Astronaut Corps and are currently undergoing a candidacy training program at the Johnson Space Center. The most recent class of astronaut candidates was selected in 2021. [13]
Only three astronaut candidates have resigned before completing training: Brian O'Leary and Anthony Llewellyn, both from the 1967 Selection Group, and Robb Kulin of the 2017 group. O'Leary resigned in April 1968 after additional Apollo missions were cancelled, Llewellyn resigned in August 1968 after failing to qualify as a jet pilot, and Kulin resigned in August 2018 for unspecified personal reasons. [14] Another astronaut candidate, Stephen Thorne, died in an airplane accident before he could finish astronaut training. [15]
Selection as an astronaut candidate and subsequent promotion to astronaut does not guarantee the individual will eventually fly in space. Some have voluntarily resigned or been medically disqualified after becoming astronauts before being selected for flights.
Civilian candidates are expected to remain with the corps for at least five years after initial training; military candidates are assigned for specific tours. After these time limits, members of the Astronaut Corps may resign or retire at any time.
Three members of the Astronaut Corps (Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger B. Chaffee) were killed during a ground test accident while preparing for the Apollo 1 mission. Eleven were killed during spaceflight, on Space Shuttle missions STS-51-L and STS-107. [note 1] Another four (Elliot See, Charles Bassett, Theodore Freeman, and Clifton Williams) were killed in T-38 plane crashes during training for space flight during the Gemini and Apollo programs. Another was killed in a 1967 automobile accident, and another died in a 1991 commercial airliner crash while traveling on NASA business.
Two members of the corps have been involuntarily dismissed: Lisa Nowak and William Oefelein. Both were returned to service with the US Navy.
– Soyuz MS-09 (Expedition 56/57) – STS-34, STS-50, STS-71 – STS-87, STS-107 – STS-107 – STS-61-B, STS-30 – STS-73, STS-93, Soyuz TMA-20 (Expedition 26/27) – STS-63, STS-84, STS-93, STS-114 – STS-57, STS-70, STS-88, STS-109 – STS-47, STS-60, STS-85 – STS-61-A, STS-32, STS-50, STS-71, STS-89 – STS-51-A – STS-37, STS-59, STS-76, STS-108 – STS-54, STS-64, STS-78, STS-101, STS-102/STS-105 (Expedition 2) – STS-116 – STS-90, STS-130 – STS-91, STS-99, STS-104 – STS-67, STS-86, STS-91, STS-114 – STS-51-G, STS-34, STS-43, STS-58, STS-76/STS-79 (Mir EO-21/22) – STS-112, STS-126/STS-119 (Expedition 18), STS-135 – STS-92, STS-112, STS-120 – STS-131 – STS-118 – STS-41-D, STS-51-L – STS-7, STS-41-G – STS-51-D, STS-40, STS-58 – STS-115, STS-126 – STS-83, STS-94 – STS-128/STS-129 (Expedition 20/21), STS-133 – STS-41-G, STS-31, STS-45 – STS-33, STS-49, STS-61, STS-73 – STS-70, STS-101 – STS-111/STS-113 (Expedition 5), Soyuz TMA-11 (Expedition 16), Soyuz MS-03/Soyuz MS-04 (Expedition 51/52/53) 
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA includes spacewalks and lunar or planetary surface exploration. In a stand-up EVA (SEVA), an astronaut stands through an open hatch but does not fully leave the spacecraft. EVAs have been conducted by the Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, Canada, the European Space Agency and China.
Colin Michael Foale is a British-American astrophysicist and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six space missions, and is the only NASA astronaut to have flown extended missions aboard both Mir and the International Space Station. He was the second Briton in space and the first to perform a space walk. Until 17 April 2008, he held the record for most time spent in space by a US citizen: 374 days, 11 hours, 19 minutes, and as of 2024 he held the cumulative-time-in-space record for a British citizen.
Shannon Walker is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut selected in 2004. She launched on her first mission into space on June 25, 2010, onboard Soyuz TMA-19 and spent over 163 days in space.
A mission patch is a cloth reproduction of a spaceflight mission emblem worn by astronauts and other personnel affiliated with that mission. It is usually executed as an embroidered patch. The term space patch is mostly applied to an emblem designed for a crewed space mission. Traditionally, the patch is worn on the space suit that astronauts and cosmonauts wear when launched into space. Mission patches have been adopted by the crew and personnel of many other space ventures, public and private.
This article lists the birthplaces of astronauts from the United States' space program and other space travelers born in the United States or holding American citizenship. Space travelers who did not work for NASA are indicated in italics.
NASA Astronaut Group 7 was a group of seven astronauts accepted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on August 14, 1969. It was the last group to be selected during the Project Apollo era, and the first since the Mercury Seven in which all members were active-duty military personnel, and all made flights into space.
NASA Astronaut Group 16 was a group of 44 astronauts announced by NASA on May 1, 1996. The class was nicknamed "The Sardines" for being such a large class, humorously implying that their training sessions would be as tightly packed as sardines in a can. These 44 candidates compose the largest astronaut class to date. NASA selected so many candidates in preparation for the anticipated need for ISS crew members, along with regular shuttle needs. Nine of the 44 astronauts selected were from other countries including 5 from Europe and 2 from Canada and Japan.
NASA Astronaut Group 17, were chosen by NASA in 1998 and announced on June 4 of that year. The group of 32 candidates included eight pilots, 17 mission specialists, and seven international mission specialists who became NASA astronauts. They began training in August 1998.
NASA Astronaut Group 12 was a group of 15 astronauts announced by NASA on June 5, 1987.
NASA Astronaut Group 18. The group saw the training of seven pilots and ten mission specialists to become NASA astronauts. These 17 astronauts began training in August 2000.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Media related to NASA Astronaut Groups at Wikimedia Commons
NASA Astronaut Corps travel guide from Wikivoyage This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration .
