My assumption is that they will draw from the existing astronaut corps at the time. So if you want to go to Mars, apply to become an astronaut candidate. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Before you do that, though, you'll have to get some experience to make yourself competitive. After all, lots of other people want to be astronauts too, and you'll have to show why you're a better choice than they are. You should get flight experience. Experience with experimental aircraft is a plus. Experience with high-performance aircraft (i.e. supersonic ones) is a major plus, but you'll have a hard time getting it outside of the military. That's why most astronauts are former military pilots, usually from USAF, the Navy, or the Marines. (There's at least one Army astronaut, a former helicopter pilot, and one Coast Guard. Neither are qualified to fly the Shuttle, though. That's where they require high-performance aircraft experience.)<br /><br />Advanced degrees are another major plus. Medicine, aerospace engineering, other engineering fields, materials science, astronomy, chemistry, biology, physics, geology, mathematics.... They really like seeing those kinds of things on your resume.<br /><br />So, since you're about to graduate high school, I'd say your first step should be college. You're going to need at least a bachelor's degree. You can figure out the rest as you go. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Not all astronauts have military experience, so it's not a requirement at all. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em> -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>