Calling all wannabe astronauts. NASA’s hiring for first time in 4 years

If you've ever wanted to be an astronaut, now might be your chance – provided you can satisfy a few pesky job requirements, that is.

For three months only, from December through February, NASA will accept applications for aspiring space voyagers to join the current 47-man astronaut team.

The space agency says the call, the first since 2011, is necessitated by the impending return of current astronauts to American soil and the prospect of a possible journey to Mars. The space agency promises, in a press release, that chosen astronauts will have the opportunity to be a part of an “unprecedented transition to commercial spacecraft for crew and cargo transport to the space station.”