If you’ve ever dreamed of being strapped onto to the tip of a bomb and fired, upwards, past the blue sky and into the black empty forever of space eternal, to live in a tin can orbiting the planet at 4.76 miles per second for months on end, eating food out of a tube and pooping into a vacuum, then you’re in luck.

NASA has opened the call for astronaut explorers. They need fresh blood to fill their space suits with and they want YOU.

That is, if you are an American citizen, have a master’s degree in a STEM field from an accredited institution, and/or have completed your pilot’s training.

If you meet those requirements, then you are eligible to apply to become part of the “Artemis generation” of astronauts. A new wave of astronauts bound for the International Space Station (ISS), the moon and even Mars.

“We’re celebrating our 20th year of continuous presence aboard the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit this year, and we’re on the verge of sending the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a press release. “For the handful of highly talented women and men we will hire to join our diverse astronaut corps, it’s an incredible time in human spaceflight to be an astronaut. We’re asking all eligible Americans if they have what it to takes to apply beginning March 2.”

That call for applications will be open through the end of March (3/31).

Over the history of NASA, they’ve trained only 350 individuals to become explorers of the outer realms. It’s a tough job, and you must not only meet rigorous intellectual tests, but physical ones as well. Astronauts have to be fit, as any explorer, in order to deal with the unusual challenges that life-in-space presents.

There are currently only 48 astronauts in the in the active astronaut corp. And while that’s been enough to sustain space operations for the last few years, with the prospect of another moon mission and a Mars mission on the horizon, NASA needs more bodies. They need more minds. They need sharp, in shape, hardworking and eager individuals to take on the formidable duty of pushing the human-domain deeper into space.  

Apply to #BeAnAstronaut at: www.usajobs.gov