What it takes to become an astronaut | How does NASA select astronauts? | EXPLORE MODE 

On October 18, NASA conducted its first all-female spacewalk. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir put on their suits to replace a failed power controller outside the ISS in an operation that lasted seven hours and seventeen minutes. This was Meir’s first spacewalk and the fourth for Koch, who has now accumulated almost 28 hours of spacewalking time.
So far, we’ve sent humans to orbit around space, we’ve sent them to the moon and we have sent probes to Mars, Venus, Titan, and even some asteroids and comets. So what’s next? Well, NASA wants to send humans to Mars by the 2030s. They already have a 5 phase plan, operating within the Lunar Vicinity. Their goal? “to enable a capability to extend human presence, including potential human habitation on another celestial body and a thriving space economy in the 21st Century.”
Surely, astronauts selected for this program will face even more… interesting selection and training program, than the process astronaut candidates face today.
So what does it take to become an astronaut? What type of training do selected candidates go through? And how much of their time do astronauts actually spend in space?
You’re watching Explore Mode and in this episode, we will tell you all about NASA’s astronaut selection process.
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Music:
TITLE : Marine Snow and Last Straw
MUSIC BY : SutheeComposer
bit.ly/2EeiVVp
www.sutheecomposer.com
A New Day in a New Sector By Chris Zabriskie
chriszabriskie.com/
Under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licensing terms
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Sources:
NASA Astronaut Group 22
www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biogr...
www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biogr...
NASA Astronaut Selection Requirements
astronauts.nasa.gov/content/f...
www.nasa.gov/audience/forstud...
www.popsci.com/astronaut-cand...
NASA’s First Seven Astronauts
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/me...
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/image...
NASA Astronaut Training
www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/...
science.howstuffworks.com/10-...
www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/...
science.howstuffworks.com/ast...
NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory
www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/...
First All-Female Spacewalk
blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2...
NASA’s Plans To Put Humans On Mars
www.nasa.gov/sites/default/fi...
www.nasa.gov/feature/fridays-...
bgr.com/2019/10/22/spacewalk-...
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Produced by Sofia K.
Edited by Amanda Lee