What does it take to be an astronaut? NASA reveals that there are about 18,000 Americans who applied to become a space explorer, where only a handful who applied will become the next NASA astronauts.

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A record breaking number of applicants who applied this year for the 2017 NASA astronaut program surpassed the 1978 record of only 8,000 which is also more than three times the number of applicants in 2012 and 2013's mere 6,300 hopefuls.

NASA announced the opening for applications last December 14 that ended on Thursday where the space agency will only pick 14 or less from thousands of applicants. The application period lasted for two months, giving time to prepare for requirements along with submissions to NASA for further evaluation. During this time, the last batch of astronauts ended in training, where this new batch can now take over the experiments aboard the International Space Station.

According to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, this has not been surprising at all since there are so many Americans from different backgrounds who all want to be personally involved in mankind's first journey to Mars.

For decades, NASA has been the leading pioneer in space exploration, and now the space agency is searching for those candidates who have finished degrees in engineering, biological science, mathematics and physical science.

When it comes to mission scientists, their criteria involves choosing applicants who are trained in working for onboard systems and those who are knowledgeable about Shuttle systems and operations, along with mission requirements and equipment.

NASA's Astronaut Selection Board will be reviewing all the applications they received in order to determine each of the applicants' qualifications. The board will then carry out interviews for the most qualified ones before selecting the final applicants.

The selected ones will undergo a two year training course that will focus on essential skills such as spacewalking and teamwork along with intensive knowledge on spacecraft systems and understanding Russian language.

Those astronauts who will complete this training will now be assigned to four different missions, the International Space Station, the Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, the SpaceX Crew Dragon or NASA's Orion spacecraft.

According the director of Flight Operations at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Brian Kelly, our work has been cut out for us with this number of applicants. It has been encouraging to know that so many people recognize this as a great opportunity to be part of NASA's milestone mission, he adds. This new batch of astronauts will be announced in mid-2017.