Related: What does it take to become an astronaut? In 2017, more than 18,000 people applied to NASA's astronaut class of 2017, but only 12 were selected for further training. International Space Station crews tend to train for two years in order to spend six months in space. Once they have passed basic training, NASA astronauts are assessed for suitability before being assigned to a mission, which they may take up to several years to prepare for before ever taking flight. After meeting this first requirement, they must pass a strenuous physical evaluation before embarking on a two-year-long basic training course, in which they learn everything from how to pilot a spacecraft to how to communicate in Russian with the Russian Mission Control Center, according to NASA.

Usually, to qualify as an applicant for a NASA training program, astronauts must have a master's degree in a STEM field and either two years of relevant professional experience or 1,000 hours of logged pilot-in-command time on a jet aircraft. 'Remember Wally has more flight experience than any astronaut in space right now.' Funk has logged 19,600 flight hours on a variety of aircraft and has taught more than 3,000 people to fly.įunk, who prepared to be an astronaut as part of the 1961 Mercury 13 program but was excluded from spaceflight by NASA because of her gender, is the only member of the crew with any flight training.

''Training'' Scott Manley, a space commentator, tweeted as a reply to Blue Origin. But it takes more than the crossing of a boundary to earn the title, space experts said. It could seem like an open and shut case, then: The richest man on the planet went to outer space, so he must be an astronaut.

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