Do you want to be an astronaut? These are the 5 requirements of NASA

What many dreamed when they were children, is more possible than you think. These are NASA's requirements to be astronauts

What many dreamed when they were children, is more possible than you think. These are NASA's requirements to be astronauts

There is a belief that to become an astronaut you have to have a gifted profile, however, it is not necessary. Each year, NASA reports the registration of approximately 6,000 candidates to be trained in their agency, however, in 2017 only 338 qualified, according to the newspaper El Tiempo.

Read in english: ¿Quieres ser astronauta? Estos son los 5 requisitos de la NASA

1) Age and height

Although there is no age restriction, according to the web portal Vix, the US agency accepts candidates who are between 26 and 46 years old, also, the height limits are between 1.57 m and 1.90 mt, a range that is not out of the ordinary in people.

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2) Studies

To apply to be an astronaut, you need a university degree in at least one degree, be it in mathematics, engineering, physics or biological sciences, in a university that has an important recognition in these areas, which has also been at least 4 years long, according to Vix.

3) Experience

For NASA, its candidates must have 3 years of experience working in their university profession, but in addition, they must have achieved promotions during that period of time, however, in case of having obtained a postgraduate degree, it will only take 2 years of experience, while with a master's degree, you'll have to have spent a year working. Finally, if you did a PhD, you will not need to have experience in the labor field, explains El Tiempo.

In the case of those who opt for the specialization of pilots, they will need to have completed a thousand hours of flight, according to the newspaper El País.

4) Health

Due to the physical demand that may be in the work of an astronaut, NASA performs medical examinations to check the status of the view, which must be correctable to the 20/20 degree or have been recovered through medical procedures one year before the application, according to El País. Likewise, the person must have normal blood pressure when in a resting state, Vix reviews.

5) United States citizenship

This is the most limiting requirement of all and is that NASA requires that participants have US citizenship, either because they were born there or have obtained it legally over the years.

And later?

According to NASA, the person who meets the requirements, will be interviewed by the staff of the space agency, which will determine if they can continue in the program, if elected, must complete a physical training and a constant evaluation for two years at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, according to NASA's official website.

Continuously, candidates must pass physical tests that involve swimming three pools of 25 meters long without stopping, and then repeat it with the astronaut suit and sports shoes, without time limit, they will also be subjected to walks on the water with the suit of an astronaut.

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Exposure to different atmospheric pressures within space chambers, the emergency solution. Training also includes experimenting with microgravity within modified spacecraft to test on Earth. This method of weightlessness lasts for periods of 20 seconds repeated up to 40 times a day.

Once the training is finished, the selected candidates – usually 100 people – will work on the International Space Station, where they will develop missions such as the construction of space vehicles and their respective flight tests, according to El Tiempo.

LatinAmerican Post | Juan Bacallado

Translated from "¿Deseas ser astronauta? Estos son los 5 requisitos de la NASA "

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