According to a new statement by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, NASA’s number of astronauts is not enough. That’s why the agency needs to find more astronauts and change the way it trains astronauts. The agency is currently engaged in training enough astronauts and expanding the crew of the International Space Station.
With the increase in lunar missions and the number of vehicles capable of launching humans over the past few years, the agency needs to increase the number of astronauts. It also needs to reconsider what skills these astronauts will need and change their current training to be ISS-based.
NASA is having trouble finding astronauts
In the report, which included the statements of Bill Nelson, it was stated that as of September, NASA had 44 “ready-to-fly” astronauts.
“NASA’s Astronaut Office is currently facing several challenges, including achieving the agency’s goal of deep space travel. It is necessary to maintain and expand its presence on the International Space Station, to carry out spaceflight missions in multiple vehicles, and to assist in the design and development of systems for Artemis’ missions to the Moon.
NASA evaluates the number of astronaut troops each year. But the final assessment showed that there aren’t enough astronauts to fill the available ISS seats over the next five years. The process of recruiting an astronaut and providing basic training takes about four years. Therefore, NASA predicts that the number of astronauts will fall below the target number over the next two years.
The space agency selected 10 new astronaut candidates in December. Candidates will begin training this month and will be the first new class of astronauts since 2017. According to the report, it’s not just the number of astronauts that NASA should be worried about, but the skill class of each.
The first astronauts were all test pilots, but over the years NASA; expanded the astronaut class to include scientists, medical doctors, engineers, and other people with special skills. Recently, the agency has been working to determine the skill sets that astronauts will need for the Artemis Moon missions.
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