About the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP)
The NASA Hubble Fellowship Program fosters excellence and leadership in astrophysics by supporting exceptionally promising and innovative early-career astrophysicists.
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Letters of Reference Update
If someone writing a letter of reference for your NHFP application is a federal employee who cannot submit their letter during the government shutdown, you may invite an alternative reference letter writer and have them submit using the standard set of instructions. When assembling the application packets in mid-November, we will default to selecting letters from the three referees specified in your application and will only make use of alternative letters if one or more of those three is unavailable. If more than one of your reference letter writers is affected, please send an email to nhfp@stsci.edu and let us know which new reference replaces which original reference.
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The NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) supports promising postdoctoral scientists to pursue independent research which contributes to NASA Astrophysics, using theory, observation, experimentation, or instrument development.
The NHFP preserves the legacy of NASA’s previous postdoctoral fellowship programs.
Once selected, fellows are assigned to one of three sub-categories corresponding to NASA’s “big questions”:
How Does the Universe Work? - Einstein Fellows
How Did We Get Here? - Hubble Fellows
Are We Alone? - Sagan Fellows
The NHFP is administered for NASA by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI) at the California Institute of Technology and the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
NHFP fellowships are tenable at U.S. host institutions of the fellow's choice, subject to a maximum of two new fellows per host institution per year, and no more than five fellows at any time at any single host institution, except for short periods of overlap. The duration of the fellowship is up to three years: an initial one-year appointment, and two annual renewals, contingent on satisfactory performance and availability of NASA funds.
Detailed program policies and application instructions can be found in the official Announcement of Opportunity.
Important Dates and Deadlines
- September 2, 2025: Announcement of Opportunity issued
- September 2, 2025: Application website open
- October 29, 2025, 7:00 PM EDT (4:00 PM PDT, 23:00 UTC): Applications due
- November 5, 2025, 7:00 PM EST (4:00 PM PST, 24:00 UTC): Letters of reference due
- February 2026: Award offers made
- April 2026: Public announcement of Fellowship offers
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Applications Are Closed
The application deadline for the 2026 NASA Hubble Fellowship Program was October 29, 2025. We expect another opportunity to apply will open in September 2026.
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The Host Employment Policy
Host institutions must offer their NHFP Fellows the opportunity to be employees. The NHFP maintains a list of institutions that have informed us whether or not they can host new fellows under this policy.
NHFP Symposia
Browse details on all NHFP Symposia, including links to webpages, recorded talks, and programs.
Application Resources
Meet the Fellows
Current Classes of NHFP Fellows
Prior Classes of NHFP Fellows
Fellows through 2017
Prior to the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, the Einstein, Hubble, and Sagan Fellowships were run separately. The lists of fellows from those programs can be found below.