NASA has named its new group of astronaut candidates, including the first person to have orbited Earth before joining the agency’s corps.
The space agency on Monday introduced the four men and six women who comprise its 2025 trainee class during a ceremony held at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Following two years of basic training, the new candidates will be eligible for mission assignments in low-Earth orbit and on the Moon, as NASA’s Artemis program works toward sending the first humans to Mars.
“We picked the best and the brightest, the most skilled, the best looking, the best personalities to take these 10 spots,” said Sean Duffy, acting NASA administrator and secretary of transportation. “You are America’s best and brightest, and we’re going to need America’s best and brightest because we have a bold exploration plans for the future.”
“We are going back to the Moon, and this time we’re going to stay. And from what we learn on our missions to the Moon, we’re going to go to Mars, and we’re going to go beyond, into the unknown,” he said.
In addition to Duffy, NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya and Vanessa Wyche, director of the Johnson Space Center, also spoke at the event. NASA’s Director of Flight Operations Norm Knight and his deputy director, astronaut Kjell Lindgren, introduced the new candidates as they took their seats on the stage.
Ten to train
NASA’s 2025 astronaut class portraits: Ben Bailey, Lauren Edgar, Adam Fuhrmann, Cameron Jones, Yuri Kubo, Rebecca Lawler, Anna Menon, Imelda Muller, Erin Overcash, and Katherine Spies.
Credit:
NASA/Josh Valcarcel
The class—NASA’s 24th since selecting the Mercury astronauts in 1959—was chosen out of a pool of more than 8,000 applicants after an extended recruitment process that began in March 2024.
The candidates include military officers, engineers, a physician, and a scientist. They are the first class to have more women than men. They are (lightly edited from NASA’s announcement):
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