Today, NASA announced the selection of its newest class of astronauts: six men and four women, selected from more than 12,000 people who applied to the space agency in March 2020. Once they’ve trained and become full-fledged astronauts, these selectors have some interesting stuff. opportunities for spaceflight are ahead of them, and will likely include flights to the moon someday.
The astronauts proclaimed today are part of the so-called Artemis Generation. The name refers to NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon’s surface as early as 2025 (a very ambitious landing date). The program calls for astronauts to be launched on a series of trips into space on NASA’s new massive rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS, eventually culminating in another human landing on the Moon.
“NASA astronauts will plan, train, and fly to the International Space Station, to the Moon under Artemis, and finally to Mars,” said Vanessa Weicy, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, during a presentation to announce the astronauts.
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NASA has not assigned crews to any of the missions associated with the Artemis program, so the flight is technically still up for grabs. However, in December 2020, NASA has revealed the Artemis team, 18 astronauts are already part of the space agency that can be selected to fly the Artemis mission. Presumably, today’s shortlisted candidate will join NASA’s chosen group. In addition to lunar missions, NASA still regularly transports astronauts to and from the International Space Station on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Ultimately, the Boeing CST-100 Starliner will take astronauts to the International Space Station when deemed ready.
But before the new recruits could fly, they had to train. The astronauts will undergo nearly two years of training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, which includes flying the agency’s fleet of T-38 jets, spacewalk training, robotics work, and more. If all goes well, they will eventually graduate with full astronaut status.
“Today, we welcome 10 new explorers — 10 members of the Artemis generation,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the ceremony. “It was the Apollo generation, and it has done a lot for a lot of people. Now is the Artemis generation.”
New categories of aspiring astronauts include:
- Nicole Ayers
- Marcos Perius
- Christina Birch
- Sea Burnham
- Luke Delaney
- Andre Douglas
- Jack Hathaway
- Anil Menon
- Christopher Williams
- Jessica Wittner
Most group members have some type of military experience, with many members currently or previously enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Meanwhile, Burnham is a drilling engineer from Alaska, while Menon most recently worked as a medic at SpaceX. Ayers is also one of the few women currently flying the F-22 for the Air Force, and according to NASA, she has “led the formation of the first all-female aircraft in combat.” Learn more about Astronaut Candidate Wallpaper Here.
To be considered a NASA astronaut, candidates must be U.S. citizens and hold a master’s degree in a STEM-related field from an accredited university. Furthermore, applicants must have a minimum of 1,000 hours of flying a jet aircraft or at least three years of experience in a STEM-related field. With all of these requirements, finalists must pass a physical exam from NASA before being considered.
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