NASA announced on Monday the 10 people they have selected to join their astronaut program.
They chose six women and four men from a pool of over 1,000 applicants.
While the decision wasn’t easy, NASA administrator Sean Duffy believes they made the right choice, picking “America’s best and brightest” for upcoming space expeditions.
The latest additions to NASA are as follows:
- Ben Bailey: Mechanical engineer and Army chief warrant officer 3; Charlottesville, Virginia
- Lauren Edgar: Geologist; Sammamish, Washington
- Adam Fuhrmann: Air Force major and aerospace engineer; Leesburg, Virginia
- Cameron Jones: Air Force major and aerospace engineer; Savanna, Illinois
- Yuri Kubo: Electrical and computer engineer, former NASA employee, and SpaceX launch director; Columbus, Indiana
- Rebecca Lawler: Former lieutenant commander and test pilot for the Navy; Little Elm, Texas
- Imelda Muller: Former Navy lieutenant and undersea medical officer; Copake Falls, New York
- Erin Cashover: Lieutenant commander and test pilot for the Navy; Goshen, Kentucky
- Katherine Spies: Design engineer and former test pilot for the Marine Corps; San Diego, California
- Anna Menon: Biomedical engineer and former SpaceX employee; Houston, Texas
This is the first class of astronauts consisting of more women than men.
What’s more, Menon is the first person hired into the NASA astronaut corps with previous experience flying to orbit.
New astronaut Jones is excited to have Menon as part of the crew.
“She’s so gracious. We’re going to be leaning on her expertise; she just has an amazing story of what she’s been able to accomplish and is just so proficient and incredible,” Jones said.
The 10 astronauts will go through intensive training over the next two years. They’ll learn about the history and visions of NASA, water survival, space health, geology, and eventually learn how to operate high-performance jets.
A return to the moon will be one of the first missions the new astronauts will train for, with a trip to Mars expected at a later time.
“We are going back to the moon . . . And I’ll just tell you this, I’ll be damned if the Chinese beat NASA or beat America back to the moon,” said Duffy.
Curious to see who will play a major role in upcoming space expeditions for the U.S.? Learn more about the 10 new astronauts from NASA’s website.
