Since NASA announced its first astronaut class in 1959, more than 350 people have become astronauts. In a 2020 blog post, Anne McClain, a NASA astronaut, summarizes what the agency is looking for for future space explorers: “Be adaptable, dependable, tenacious, and detail-oriented.”
Rigorous training
After a selection process, aspiring NASA astronauts, known as ASCANs, undergo a two-year training course to become qualified astronauts. NASA trains its astronauts in a variety of environments.
Aspiring astronauts will be tested for bravery in large pools and hot deserts. To prepare for work beyond the reach of the spacecraft, astronauts train underwater in large indoor pools. Future astronauts must dive into a pool that simulates the microgravity, or weightless environment, they will experience while working in space.
Using a model spaceship in a swimming pool, astronauts practice spacewalking. NASA conducts the training space walk the most modern at the Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, Texas.
The huge pool containing 6.2 million liters of water is a clone of the International Space Station (ISS). In the pool, astronauts can practice using hardware in a weightless environment.
Astronauts also undergo desert survival training. This formation is a simulation in case of an emergency landing. Since 1959 NASA astronaut he had learned survival skills in case they had to make an emergency landing in a remote area.
In 1964, the Apollo 11 astronauts traveled to Nevada to spend three days in the hot, dry desert and practice survival skills. NASA astronauts train in the desert because the environment is closest to that of an alien planet.
As part of training for the Artemis rocket mission, NASA conducted two field exercises in the Arizona desert, which is similar to the Moon.
Astronaut candidates also undergo psychological and psychiatric tests to screen out those who are unsuited for space travel. Please note that space travel comes with its own mental burden.
Going to space is very stressful. In 2016, NASA’s Human Research Program released a report that found crew members experienced sleep changes, radiation exposure, changes in gravity, and prolonged isolation while in space. After becoming astronauts, ISS crew members regularly talk to medical personnel, including psychologists, via private video conference.
