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NASA to recruit new astronaut class

James Dean
FLORIDA TODAY

If you stand between 62 and 75 inches tall, have a military, science or technical background and dream of going to Mars, you might have the right stuff to be a NASA astronaut.

NASA on Wednesday announced it will begin recruiting a new astronaut class for selection by the summer of 2017.

The group of eight to 14 people would have a shot not only at living on the International Space Station, but flying near the moon or even Mars, if NASA’s long-range exploration goals stay on track.

“Mars is very much a reality for the folks coming down here, and I think we’re on the cusp of a very busy and exciting time here at NASA,” said Anne McClain, one of NASA’s newest astronauts, in an interview with FLORIDA TODAY.

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McClain, a U.S. Army major and test pilot, was one of eight astronaut candidates — four men and four women — selected for NASA's most recent class in 2013, which has since completed two years of training to earn full-fledged astronaut status.

That class was selected from more than 6,100 applicants, the second-highest ever despite the space shuttle’s retirement in 2011 and a public perception that NASA’s human spaceflight program was on the decline.

The space agency now lists 47 active astronauts, but is hiring more to continue flights to the station or explore farther out in space on NASA’s Orion capsule.

By the time the new class is eligible to fly, Boeing and SpaceX should be launching four-person crews to the station from the Space Coast, complementing Russia’s three-seat Soyuz spacecraft. Orion should be progressing toward a first crewed flight from Kennedy Space Center by 2023.

“This class is to fill all seats that are going to be coming our way in the next 10 years,” said McClain.

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The application period opens Dec. 14 and continues into February. Highly qualified candidates will be identified for interview and medical tests before moving on.

Beyond the basic academic, experience and physical qualifications, McClain said teamwork versatility stand out as useful traits for would-be astronauts making up NASA's 22nd class.

“The astronaut corps is a very small part of a very large team that enables human spaceflight,” she said. “Anybody that’s coming down here to work, it’s very important to be able to get along with teams.”

Her own days as an astronaut have ranged from learning Russian to flying T-38 training jets to studying the station's electrical systems to practicing for spacewalks in Johnson Space Center's giant swimming pool.

Contrary to what some might imagine, McClain, who was accepted on her second try, said the astronaut application process is not designed to be "tricky or scary or difficult."

“Nobody sat down and said you have 30 seconds to compute the escape velocity of a rocket,” she said of her own experience. “It was really more who are you as a person?”

Her advice to applicants might sound familiar to most job seekers: Just be yourself.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.comAnd follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.

How to apply

For more information on what it takes to be a NASA astronaut and how to apply, visit www.nasa.gov/astronauts.