A new NASA astronaut corps for the next era in space - BollyInside

Driving the news: NASA will need to grow the number of astronauts in its active corps in order to satisfy its requirements for lunar missions, according to a new report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General.

The relatively small number is fine for current needs on the International Space Station, but it will need to grow in order to crew Artemis missions to the Moon.The OIG also pointed out that NASA doesn’t keep detailed demographic data on all of its astronauts — particularly those detailed to the space agency from military branches — making it hard to know whether NASA is meeting its diversity goals.Training also needs to be updated to help prepare astronauts for Artemis missions, in order to make sure they’re prepared to fly aboard a new vehicle and rocket, collect samples from the Moon and perform various novel science experiments.

Eventually the agency diversified its corps, recruiting some white women and people of color from a variety of backgrounds.Some current astronauts have helped develop the Artemis program but they may not be in a position to fly due to family needs, age or other concerns, space historian Robert Pearlman and editor of collectspace.com told Axios.