NASA opened its astronaut-application website Monday. It's accepting applications through Feb. 18. Any qualified U.S. citizen can submit the application online. Successful applicants will travel to the most remote places - Mars to work.

"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 a statement.

Candidates must have U.S. citizenship, a bachelor’s degree in science, maths, or engineering, and at least three years of professional experience or a minimum of 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft. This sort of opportunity is a rarity. NASA has just 47 astronauts and the last chance to apply was two years ago. More than 6,000 applied for NASA's last astronaut class in 2013, with only eight picked.

NASA said these astronauts may fly on any of four different U.S. vessels during their careers: the International Space Station, two commercial crew spacecraft currently in development by U.S. companies, and NASA's Orion deep-space exploration vehicle that will take humans to Mars in the 2030s. Pay is between $66,000 and $145,000 a year, and the successful applicants have to move to Houston.