NASA Seeks Fresh Team of Astronauts To 'Put Boot Prints' on Mars

Attention US citizens: if you’ve ever dreamt of space travel, your time may have finally come! NASA has announced it’s looking for new astronauts for a future mission to Mars, and those who have a degree in science and adequate piloting experience can try their luck and submit an application for the program.

Did you hear? You can apply to #BeAnAstronaut starting on Dec. 14! Here are the details: https://t.co/NpTqhybGYR pic.twitter.com/GLVJbRMkfG

— NASA (@NASA) November 4, 2015

NASA may receive its first applications from possible candidates as early as December 14, according to ABC News.

Everything seems pretty straightforward: according to the space agency’s statement, applicants should have a degree in engineering, biological or physical science, and a thousand aircraft flight hours.

Unfortunately, the very tall need not apply: would-be astronauts need to be shorter than 6-feet 4-inches to be considered for the program, NASA’s statement reads.

"This next group of American space explorers will inspire the Mars generation to reach for new heights, and help us realize the goal of putting boot prints on the Red Planet," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in the statement.

NASA, which retired its manned space trips in 2011, moved to renew the program after several high-profile discoveries made earlier this year, including the identification of liquid water on Mars’ surface and the observation of the so-called “love note” crater on Pluto by the New Horizons probe.

NASA is to announce the members of the new space team by 2017.

"Those selected for this service will fly on US-made spacecraft from American soil,” Bolden promised.

Astronauts will travel either in NASA’s deep-space exploration craft Orion or in a commercial vehicles, such as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon or Boeing’s Starline, the agency noted. All rockets will be launched from the space pad in Florida.