NASA Force Applications Open

First applications launched Friday for two-year aerospace engineer positions.

Jack Daleo

Friday, April 17, 2026 at 05:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Zach Vasile

NASA Force gives private sector employees the chance to work on projects tied to the Artemis moon mission campaign. [Credit: NASA]

Key Takeaways:

NASA launched "NASA Force," a new initiative enabling private sector employees to apply for 1-2 year "mission-critical" roles on projects such as the Artemis moon mission.
The program aims to bolster NASA's talent pool, rebuild core competencies, and leverage private sector expertise, particularly after recent employee departures and budget reductions, to achieve ambitious goals like establishing a permanent moon base by 2028.
NASA Force also features a reciprocal arrangement allowing NASA personnel to serve terms in the private sector, with safeguards in place to prevent conflicts of interest and restrict temporary personnel from "inherently governmental" work or accessing proprietary information.

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U.S. private sector employees can now apply to work on some of NASA’s most complex projects.

NASA on Friday launched the official website and application portal for NASA Force—a workforce initiative that will recruit the best and brightest aerospace employees for one-to-two-year “mission-critical” roles at the space agency. Per the website, selected personnel “for a few days” will have access to projects under NASA’s Artemis moon mission campaign, including the Orion crew capsule, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket propulsion system, and lunar rovers and landers.