Do you and/or NASA have any plans or have you contemplated setting up a civilian settler corps?

Carlo CocuzziAI Expert, Pod Cast Host, Real Estate Investor and Funding Specialist

Will Private Astronauts Be Allowed on the Moon?

29 Jul 2026 · 2 min

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1:31

Jared says NASA will train and certify private astronauts for lunar missions, and medical professionals matter more than pilot experience. He points to Peter, a civilian pilot, as someone interested in settling on the Moon.

Questions this video answers

Jared says aviation experience is no longer a strict requirement; the most critical crew members will be medical professionals to handle the physiological and psychological challenges of long‑duration missions. He expects NASA astronauts will continue to be needed, particularly to train and certify commercial/private crews, and believes NASA’s expertise will help ensure private astronaut success.

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Jared, 20 years ago you were a civilian pilot with ambition, and there are many civilian pilots out there right now, some of whom have written to me, that would absolutely love a path to the Moon, a path to be basically a civilian settler corps, including apparently Peter, who would love to be civilian settlers or reserve astronauts. Do you and/or NASA have any plans or have you contemplated setting up a civilian settler corps?
Let me just first say that having an aviation background is hardly a requirement anymore. If you think about what a crew of astronauts should look like, having 1 or 2 people with that background, important and helpful for sure. If you want, I think number 1 in this, and this also very much qualifies Peter, is medical professionals. The technology to enable humans to go to Mars is gonna happen far faster, or sooner, than having the countermeasures in place for how demanding physiologically it is to be in space, not to mention psychologically as well, especially when you get to extreme distances like Mars. So I just don't ever see a world in our lifetime where you're not gonna have considerable investments in medical professionals supporting outposts on the Moon and certainly Mars someday. There will always be a need for NASA astronauts, and I'd be shocked if you didn't see at some point in time that NASA astronauts played a role in helping train and certify commercial or private crews going on those missions. And I'd love to think that the expertise inherent with NASA will help set up those private and commercial astronauts for success.