Nasa has opened the search for a new astronaut class, with successful applicants joining the effort to grow the Artemis programme.
The news was announced by officials on Saturday during a Kennedy Space Center air show promoting lunar exploration as well as advances in aviation and technology.
It is two years since Nasa last sought new astronauts. More than 8,000 people applied on that occasion, and 10 made the final cut in September 2025.
The space agency currently has just 32 active astronauts, and needs more recruits as it looks to expand humanity’s presence beyond low-Earth orbit as quickly as possible
The lunar campaign commenced in April, when the Artemis II crew carried out a lunar flyaround.
“We have far more work than we have astronauts,” Artemis III commander Randy Bresnik said on Saturday.
Anyone hoping to join the new class has between now and 3 December to submit an application.
Nasa expects to make its final selection by late 2027, with the new candidates beginning their training by early 2028. That is the same year Nasa intends to return astronauts to the lunar surface after an absence of more than half a century.
By then “we're going to have people on the moon — so don't delay," Bresnik urged potential candidates.
Bresnik and his three crewmates will blast into orbit next summer to practise docking their capsule with a pair of lunar landers, one built by Elon Musk's SpaceX and the other by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
Their mission will stick close to Earth, with no lunar flyby, and will serve as a dress rehearsal for the following year's Artemis IV mission, which will attempt to land two astronauts near the lunar south pole.
The moon base will materialise as more rovers, robots, structures and power grids are launched.
Do you want to be an astronaut?
— NASA (@NASA) November 7, 2026
Applications are now open to join NASA's astronaut corps. Join us as we expand the frontiers of discovery in low Earth orbit, on the Moon, and beyond — apply by Dec. 3: https://t.co/laY2ExWiGO pic.twitter.com/GzZl3yRy0i
Patience is essential for becoming an astronaut, noted Artemis III's Frank Rubio, whose 371 consecutive days in space is a US endurance record.
Candidates must also be US citizens with college degrees and professional work experience.
The two years of mandatory training can be gruelling, and it could take another several years on top of that before finally rocketing into space.
“It's important for them to realise most of that work is not going to the moon, right?" Rubio said. “That will be about 1 per cent of your experience. What you're doing is contributing to the mission of going to the moon.”
This will be Nasa’s 25th astronaut class since the original Mercury Seven in 1959.
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