NASA Astronaut Group 23

NASA announced the creation of this astronaut group in February 2020 and accepted applications for astronaut hires during the month of March 2020. For this class, the educational requirements increased to be at minimum a master's degree in a STEM field (engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics) from an accredited institution; in classes prior to this, a bachelor's degree was all that was required. Additionally, a 2-hour online assessment was required for the first time.[1] Over 12,000 applications were received by NASA, coming from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories.[2]

The Group 23 Astronaut Candidates were originally planned to arrive at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for training in the summer of 2021, and when their approximately two-year-long training program is complete, they become available for future missions to the International Space Station in low Earth orbit aboard NASA or commercial crew vehicles, the Moon via the Artemis program, and Mars.[1] However, due to complications with interviewing potential applicants in person due to COVID-19 restrictions at JSC, the announcement of the new class has been pushed back twice.

• In August 2020, the agency revised the timetable, pushing the final announcement date from summer to late 2021.[3] As of the August 2020 revision, several rounds of interviews were to have been conducted in Houston between February and September 2021, with the announcement of the Class of 2021 in October or November and their arrival at JSC for training in December.[4]
• In January 2021, the agency again revised the timetable: on-site interviews have been pushed back to summer 2021, with the new class announcement in late 2021 or early 2022, pushing the new class into 2022.[5]

Two Emirati astronaut candidates from the second Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre will also train with the group as International partner astronauts.[6]