NASA astronaut applications to begin in March - WHSV

HOUSTON (KTRK/CNN) - If your dream growing up was to be an astronaut, now is your chance. NASA is looking for a new crop of candidates for its training program.

Applications to be part of NASA's next class of astronauts open on March 2. (Source: KTRK/NASA/CNN)

Applications for the new class open on March 2. However, the odds of being selected are pretty low.

“My odds were only 100 to 1,” NASA astronaut Stan Love said. “Our last class was a class of 12, selected from a pool of 18,000 applications, so their odds were 1,000 to one.”

NASA only needs about 20 trainees for the next class, who will be participating in a variety of different missions.

"Missions to the International Space Station, obviously trying to go back to the moon by 2024 and hopefully on Mars,” said Anne Roemer, the manager of astronaut selection.

NASA officials say degrees in math, science and engineering are required. A master’s degree is also needed to apply.

For those who have already made it, this is a dream come true, but it was not an easy task.

"I came in the door with a Ph.D in astronomy and about 100 hours in a Cessna 172. And with that basis, I needed to learn how to operate a robotic arm, do a spacewalk, be a crew member in a T-38 jet,” Love said.

Since 1959, 350 people have been selected to train as astronauts.

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