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NASA is hiring new astronauts to go to the moon

The astronauts will participate in the agency’s next big mission — to help establish “sustainable exploration” on the moon by 2028.
Image: NASA Astronauts
NASA's new class of astronauts — the first to graduate since the agency announced its Artemis program — appear on stage during their graduation ceremony at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Jan. 10, 2020.NASA

Need a job with perks that are out of this world?

NASA announced Monday that it’s hiring two astronauts — one man, one woman — to travel to the moon within the next three years to explore its south pole.

That trip, NASA said, is part of the agency’s next big mission — to establish “sustainable exploration” with “commercial and international partners” on the moon by 2028.

After that comes the “giant leap” to Mars in the mid-2030s, the agency said.

Applicants only need two years of work toward a doctoral program in math, science, technology or engineering; a completed doctorate in medicine; to have completed an internationally recognized pilot test program by June 2021; and to best the thousands of people against whom they'll likely compete.

The last time NASA solicited applications for new astronauts was 2015, when 18,300 people applied.

The agency selected 11 of them. They graduated from training earlier this year.