NASA’s newest set of eight astronaut candidates includes a female F/A 18 fighter pilot and a female helicopter pilot. Two more women, both scientists, have been selected to complete the batch of eight future space travelers. This is the highest percentage of women astronauts in NASA’s history. The four men all have military backgrounds with one serving previously as an ER physician. The search for these potential space explorers took a year and a half.
The historic announcement of was made by NASA on Monday on the eve of the 30th anniversary of Sally Ride’s launch. Ride who passed away last summer was the first American woman in space.
To boldly go
Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator revealed that the eight new astronaut would be among those who would lead future missions to an asteroid and to the red planet itself, Mars. The asteroid mission has a 2020 schedule while the Mars mission is slated in the following decade. The eight astronauts may also be those who will participate in the first flight to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a commercial American spacecraft and fly using NASA’s new Space Launch System.
The lucky eight new future astronauts were chosen from more than 6,000 applicants. All new astronauts are in their thirties. They are expected to report for duty at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in August of this year and join 49 astronauts in service. Bolden said that The Class of 2013 applied to NASA because they knew of the agency’s plans to launch bigger and bolder missions to space, way beyond where humankind has gone.
Meet the lucky eight new future astronauts
39-year old aviator and physicist Josh A. Cassada, Ph.D is a native of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. He is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Quantum Opus, a private experimental physics firm.
Lt. Commander Victor J. Glover of the US Navy is a 37-year old F/A-18 pilot from Pomona, CA. He is also serving as a Navy Legislative Fellow in Congress.
37-year old Lt. Colonel Tyler N. Hague of the US Air Force hails from Hoxie, Kansas and studied in MIT. He is currently the Deputy Chief of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization for the US Department of Defense.
Christina M. Hammock who is from Jacksonville, N.C. is 34 years old and is the NOAA Station Chief in the American Samoa.
35-year old Maj. Nicole Aunapu Mann is from Penngrove, CA. She is an F/A 18 pilot and studied in Stanford University.
Helicopter pilot Major Anne C. McClain of the U.S. Army is a 34-year old Spokane, Washington native. She graduated from West Point and studied in two universities in the UK.
35-year old Brown University alumni Jessica U. Meir, Ph.D is from Caribou, Maine. She is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital.
US Army Major Andrew R. Morgan, M.D is a 37-year old native of New Castle, Pa. He served as ER physician, flight surgeon for the Army, and is on his way to complete a fellowship in sports medicine.
Photo Credit: International Space Station
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