Start Flying

You do not need to be a military test pilot to become an astronaut. But you do need to demonstrate that you can operate complex vehicles in dynamic, high-stakes environments. Flying an airplane — even a small single-engine trainer — is the most accessible way to start building that skill set right now.

Of the 48 active NASA astronauts as of 2024, the majority hold pilot certificates. Some earned their wings through military flight training. Others got their Private Pilot License at a small airport on weekends while pursuing a PhD. Both paths count. NASA’s astronaut selection criteria value flight experience because piloting an aircraft requires the exact cognitive skill set that spaceflight demands: real-time decision-making, systems management, spatial orientation, risk assessment, and the ability to stay calm when things go wrong.

You do not need 1,000 hours of flight time to apply to NASA. (The military test pilot candidates bring that; the civilian scientist candidates often do not.) But having any flight experience — even a Private Pilot License with 100 hours — separates you from the vast majority of applicants who have never operated an aircraft. It tells the selection board that you have experienced the cockpit environment, managed an airplane’s systems, navigated through weather, communicated with air traffic control, and landed safely.

That kind of operational experience is hard to fake and impossible to learn from a textbook.

Your First Flight: Discovery Flights and Young Eagles

Before you commit thousands of dollars to flight training, go fly.

Discovery flights are introductory lessons offered by virtually every flight school in the country. You will spend 15-20 minutes on the ground learning the basics, then fly a small training aircraft (typically a Cessna 172 or Piper Cherokee) for 30-60 minutes with a certified flight instructor. You will take the controls. You will actually fly the airplane.

Cost: $150 to $250. Some schools offer promotional rates as low as $99. The total experience — ground briefing, flight, debrief — takes about 90 minutes.

How to find a flight school: Use the AOPA Flight School Finder to search by zip code, or search for “flight school near [your city]” on Google. Most small general aviation airports (not the big commercial terminals) have at least one flight school.

The free alternative: EAA Young Eagles. If you are between the ages of 8 and 17, the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles program offers free introductory flights with volunteer pilots. Over 2.3 million young people have flown through this program since 1992. Flights are typically 15-20 minutes. You will not take the controls in most cases, but you will experience small-aircraft flight firsthand.

After a Young Eagles flight, you receive free access to the Sporty’s Learn to Fly online ground school course (worth over $200), which covers all the knowledge needed for the FAA Private Pilot written exam. That alone makes the Young Eagles flight one of the highest-value free activities available to any aviation-interested student.

Find a Young Eagles event near you through the EAA Chapter Finder. Events happen year-round, most frequently in spring and summer.

The Private Pilot License: What It Takes

The Private Pilot License (PPL) is your first real aviation credential. It allows you to fly single-engine aircraft, carry passengers, and fly in visual flight conditions (clear weather). Here is what the path looks like:

FAA minimum requirements:

Age 17 to receive the certificate (you can solo at 16)
At least 40 hours of flight time (FAA minimum; the national average is closer to 60-75 hours)
Pass the FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Test (written exam, 60 questions, multiple choice)
Pass the FAA Practical Test (checkride): an oral exam plus a flight test with a Designated Pilot Examiner

Realistic cost: $12,000 to $18,000. This breaks down roughly as follows:

Aircraft rental: $140-$180/hour wet (fuel included) for a Cessna 172 or Piper Cherokee. At 65 hours, that is $9,100-$11,700.
Instructor fees: $50-$75/hour. Roughly 40-50 hours of dual instruction at $2,000-$3,750.
Written exam: $175 (testing center fee).
Checkride: $600-$900 (examiner fee).
Ground school materials: $200-$400 (or free through Young Eagles/Sporty’s).
Medical certificate: $100-$200 for the AME exam.
Headset: $100 (budget) to $1,100 (premium ANR). Many students start with a school loaner.

Timeline: 6 to 12 months for most students flying 2-3 times per week. Flying only once per week stretches the timeline to 12-18 months and costs more because you spend more time relearning skills between lessons. Consistency matters more than intensity.

The key milestones:

First solo (around 15-25 hours): You fly the airplane alone for the first time. Three takeoffs and landings in the traffic pattern. This is one of the most significant moments in aviation.
Solo cross-country (around 30-40 hours): You fly alone to airports at least 50 nautical miles away, navigating and managing fuel and weather.
Written exam (take anytime before the checkride): 2-3 months of ground school study using Sporty’s, King Schools, or Gleim.
Checkride (around 60-75 hours): The final test. An oral exam on regulations, weather, systems, and decision-making, followed by a flight where you demonstrate all required maneuvers and procedures.

Funding Your Flight Training

Flight training is expensive, but there is more scholarship money available than most students realize. Here are the major funding sources:

CAP Cadet Wings Scholarship. If you are a Civil Air Patrol cadet (see Step 3), the Cadet Wings program provides $15,000 to $20,000 toward your Private Pilot License. This is one of the most generous flight training scholarships available to high school students, and competition is limited to CAP cadets. The scholarship covers instruction and aircraft rental at a partnered flight school.

EAA Ray Aviation Scholarship. The Experimental Aircraft Association awards $11,000 scholarships to young people ages 16-19 to earn their Private Pilot License. The scholarship is funded through local EAA chapters and the Ray Aviation Scholarship Fund. Over 100 scholarships are awarded annually. To apply, you need to be connected with a local EAA chapter — another reason to attend Young Eagles events and get involved. Applications open in the spring. Details at eaa.org/rayscholars.

AOPA You Can Fly Scholarships. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association offers multiple scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 for flight training. These include the AOPA High School Flight Training Scholarship, the AOPA Primary Flight Training Scholarship, and several named awards. Applications open annually. Check aopa.org/training-and-safety/flight-schools/scholarships.

Women in Aviation International (WAI) Scholarships. WAI offers over 100 scholarships annually, many specifically for flight training. These range from $1,000 to full-PPL coverage. Some are restricted to women; others are open to all genders. WAI’s annual conference includes a scholarship award ceremony. Details at wai.org/scholarships.

Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP) Solo Flight Academy. OBAP’s Solo Flight Academy is an intensive 8-day program that provides free flight training to underrepresented minority students ages 16-18, with the goal of achieving first solo during the program. Participants receive approximately 15-20 hours of flight instruction. The program runs each summer at locations across the country. Apply at obap.org. This is one of the most hands-on, accessible entry points to flight training for students of color.

Additional sources:

Ninety-Nines (International Organization of Women Pilots): Multiple flight training scholarships.
State and local aviation organizations: Many states have aerospace commissions or flying clubs that offer scholarships. Search “[your state] aviation scholarship.”
Flight school financing: Some schools offer payment plans or partner with aviation-specific lenders. Avoid high-interest financing if possible — save, apply for scholarships, and pay as you go.

Why Flight Experience Matters for Both Tracks

Whether you pursue the military test pilot pipeline or the civilian scientist/engineer pipeline, flight experience strengthens your astronaut application.

Military track: CAP orientation flights and a PPL give you a head start before entering military flight training. You arrive at Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) or Officer Candidate School with a working understanding of aerodynamics, navigation, radio communications, and cockpit resource management. Students who enter UPT with a PPL consistently perform better in the early phases of training.

Civilian track: For civilian astronaut candidates — the PhDs, MDs, and engineers who make up roughly half of each class — flight experience is a powerful differentiator. You are competing against other world-class scientists and engineers. A Private Pilot License with logged cross-country time tells NASA’s selection board that you can operate in the same environment their pilots operate in. It demonstrates risk management, spatial awareness, and the ability to perform under pressure — qualities that are hard to demonstrate with a research publication.

Several civilian astronauts earned their PPL specifically to strengthen their NASA application. It works.

AI and the Modern Cockpit

Learning to fly today means learning to interact with automation from your very first lesson — and that is directly relevant to modern spacecraft operations.

Glass cockpits as introduction to human-automation interaction. Most modern training aircraft feature glass cockpit avionics (Garmin G1000 or G3X) that integrate GPS navigation, terrain awareness, traffic alerts, weather data, and engine monitoring into digital displays. As a student pilot, you learn to cross-reference what the automation tells you against what you see outside the window and what your instruments confirm. You learn when to trust the system, when to verify, and when to override. This is human-automation teaming at the most fundamental level.

SpaceX Crew Dragon autonomous docking. When SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule approaches the International Space Station, it docks autonomously. The spacecraft’s onboard AI handles the approach, alignment, and contact without human stick-and-rudder input. The astronauts on board monitor the process, ready to intervene if something goes wrong, but they do not fly the maneuver. This is a fundamental shift from the Space Shuttle era, where pilots manually flew the final approach.

Astronauts as AI supervisors. The trend is clear: the astronaut’s role is shifting from manually flying the spacecraft to monitoring and supervising AI systems that fly the spacecraft. Orion, Gateway, and future lunar landers all incorporate increasing levels of autonomy. Astronauts need to understand what the AI is doing, why, and when to take over.

Learning to fly a Cessna with a glass cockpit is your first hands-on experience with this exact dynamic. You are not just learning to fly an airplane. You are learning to work with automated systems in a safety-critical environment — the same skill set you will use when monitoring Crew Dragon’s approach to the ISS or supervising an autonomous lunar lander descent.

What to Do Before Your First Lesson

If you decide to pursue your PPL, do these things first:

Get your FAA medical certificate. Schedule a First Class medical exam with an Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) — find one at the FAA’s AME locator. The exam costs $100-$200 and checks vision, hearing, cardiovascular health, and medical history. Certain conditions can be disqualifying or require special issuance. Do this before spending money on flight lessons — if there is a medical issue, you want to know immediately.

Apply for your Student Pilot Certificate. This is done online through the FAA’s IACRA system. It is free. You need to be at least 16 for powered aircraft. Your CFI or AME will help you complete the application.

Start ground school. Begin studying for the FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Test using Sporty’s (free through Young Eagles), King Schools, or Gleim Aviation. Give yourself 2-3 months of study before you take the written exam. Passing the written before you are deep into flight training lets you focus entirely on flying once you are in the airplane.

Your Action Plan

This week:

Search for discovery flight options near you using the AOPA Flight School Finder or Google. If you are under 18, also search for EAA Young Eagles events in your area.
Book a discovery flight or sign up for a Young Eagles flight.

Within 1 month:

Complete your discovery flight. Pay attention to how you feel in the air. Were you curious about the systems? Did you want more time at the controls? Could you see yourself doing this 60 more times?
If the answer is yes, begin researching flight schools, costs, and scholarship timelines.

Within 3 months:

Apply for applicable scholarships: CAP Cadet Wings (if you are in CAP), EAA Ray Aviation Scholarship, AOPA scholarships, or OBAP Solo Flight Academy.
Schedule your FAA medical exam.
Start ground school.

Within 6-12 months:

Begin flight training. Fly 2-3 times per week if possible. Consistency is the single biggest factor in training efficiency.
Achieve your first solo.
Pass the FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Test.

Within 12-18 months:

Complete your Private Pilot checkride.
Log your first cross-country flights as a certificated pilot.
Begin building hours. Fly as often as finances allow. Every hour in the logbook strengthens your profile.

The astronauts of the 2030s and 2040s are learning to fly right now. Some of them are at Air Force flight training. Others are at small airports on Saturday mornings, flying Cessna 172s over cornfields, building the foundation that will eventually carry them to orbit. The starting point is the same for everyone: one flight, one lesson, one hour at a time. Go fly.