# How Does One Become An Astronaut? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578 "2010-12-09T20:45:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/21 "2010-12-10T04:28:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yeah, that made the show totally unrealistic. Fair point. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/22 "2010-12-10T21:31:38Z")
[NASA answers the OPā€™s question](http://www.nasajobs.nasa.gov/astronauts/default.htm). Itā€™s worth observing that [NASA is still hiring new astronauts](http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/ascans2009.html), even though there are only three more shuttle missions planned and the International Space Station program is scheduled to end in 2015. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/23 "2010-12-10T23:27:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You apply to NASA. Back when I was in grad school circa 1980, they actually advertised for candidates. Even before that, you could apply. Iā€™m pretty sure thatā€™s how Ron McNair, Ph.D. in Physics from MIT and **Shoto-kan Black Belt** \*, got into the program. > > \*and co-author, with me, of two papers. Iā€™m sure he was there for other reasons, such as having the ability to Dragon Punch an alien in the face if they were hostile šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/24 "2010-12-11T03:35:26Z")
Yeah, like a dude named **YogSosoth** would know anything about hostile aliensā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/25 "2010-12-11T07:14:08Z")
Who was the first astronaut who was NOT married & had sired children? For quite a while, that seemed to be a qualification. (Or maybe it was just that at the age range NASA chose, most men had already done that?) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/26 "2010-12-11T07:28:08Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Who was the first astronaut who was NOT married & had sired children? > For quite a while, that seemed to be a qualification. (Or maybe it was just that at the age range NASA chose, most men had already done that?) If you meant not married and had not sired children, it was Valentina Tereshkova. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/27 "2010-12-11T18:10:23Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Who was the first astronaut who was NOT married & had sired children? > For quite a while, that seemed to be a qualification. (Or maybe it was just that at the age range NASA chose, most men had already done that?) The first NASA astronaut to have been a bachelor, I believe, was Jack Swigert who flew on Apollo 13. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/28 "2010-12-11T18:56:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > If you meant not married and had not sired children, it was Valentina Tereshkova. But technically she was a _cosmonaut_, not an astronaut. Likewise so all of the private space tourists so far have been cosmonauts; IIRC it the Russians charge about $30,000,000 for a trip to the ISS. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/29 "2010-12-11T19:08:26Z")
[I Am An Astronaut](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raENcEROUOQ). Well, OK, Iā€™m not. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578/30 "2010-12-11T19:10:57Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > But technically she was a _cosmonaut_, not an astronaut. Likewise so all of the private space tourists so far have been cosmonauts; IIRC it the Russians charge about $30,000,000 for a trip to the ISS. a person trained to travel in a spacecraft; ā€œthe Russians called their astronauts cosmonautsā€ An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft. ā€¦ But **[t-bonham@scc.net](mailto:t-bonham@scc.net)** might have meant the first male astronaut to have a child out of wedlock. Iā€™m surprised by the poor use of parentheses when operator precedence was unspecified. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-become-an-astronaut/563578.md?page=1)