More than 8,000 people applied to become NASA astronauts in 2024, and just 10 were chosen — not simply the strongest or the fastest, but people who could master robotics, medicine, foreign languages, survival training, high-performance jets and the one skill space demands most: staying calm when nothing goes to plan.

The odds were never the most interesting part, though they were sharp enough to make the point. More than 8,000 people applied to NASA’s astronaut candidate program during the 2024 application cycle. In September 2025, NASA introduced 10 of them as its newest astronaut candidates. That is the clean arithmetic of the selection. But it [...] The post More than 8,000 people applied to become NASA astronauts in 2024, and just 10 were chosen — not simply the strongest or the fastest, but people who c