Get your applications in — NASA is recruiting a new class of astronauts to explore space on the next-generation Orion deep-space exploration vehicle. Among the key requirements listed on the space agency’s job post on usajobs.gov – “frequent travel may be required.” So you’re probably out of luck if you’re seeking a work-from-home arrangement on a crewed mission to Mars.
NASA successfully tested Orion last December, blasting the long-haul crew capsule into space atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. for a quick, four-hour jaunt in orbit some 3,600 miles above Earth before splashing down in the Pacific. The next big test mission will be an uncrewed flight to the moon in 2018. In September, NASA pushed back Orion’s first crewed flight, also a trip to the moon, by nearly two years to April 2023.
In the meantime, there will be plenty of low-Earth orbit activity for NASA’s next wave of astronauts, who will be conducting missions to the International Space Station aboard commercial spacecraft the space agency has contracted from SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, per Monday’s job listing.
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