From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible.
On episode 402, NASA’s all-American 2025 astronaut candidates share a little about themselves by playing a fun icebreaker game. This episode was recorded September 19, 2025.
Transcript
Nilufar Ramji (Host)
Houston We Have a Podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center Episode 402: On a Desert Island with Our New Class of Astronaut Candidates. I’m Nilufar Ramji, and I’ll be your host today on this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, and astronauts, all to let you know what’s going on in the world of human space flight and more.
NASA is welcoming its 24th class of astronaut candidates, and they’ve just arrived at Johnson Space Center. The new class is eager to begin their two year training flow that eventually will lead them to graduating and becoming astronauts that are eligible to go to space.
The candidates were announced on September 22 on a live NASA plus broadcast, and we were able to get them into our studio to introduce themselves ahead of the announcement. So they’re all new, and it’s like their first day of worker school. And we want you to get to know them. So we’ll be doing something a little different today. We’re going to play an icebreaker called Desert Island, and we’ll do this with them in two groups.
So let’s meet our new class!
Nilufar Ramji
Thanks for joining us on Houston We Have a Podcast, and welcome to your first week for the rest of your life. We are so happy to have you, and we really want to get to know all of you, so I figure we could go around the table that we’re sitting at right now and meet everyone. And let’s start with your name, your hometown and your previous profession or area of study.
Rebecca Lawler
Yeah. Hi. I’m Becky Lawler, and I’m from Little Elm, Texas, and at the time of selection, I was working as a test pilot for United Airlines.
Nilufar Ramji
Very cool. Welcome to NASA, and congratulations.
Rebecca Lawler
Thank you.
Nilufar Ramji
Now we’ll go over to our next person.
Anna Menon
My name is Anna Menon, and I am from Houston, Texas, and I am a biomedical engineer by training, but at the time of selection, I was working at SpaceX as a Space Operations Engineer and mission director.
Nilufar Ramji
So two Texans so far. Perfect for Houston. We have a podcast. Let’s go over to our next astronaut candidate.
Imelda Muller
Hi, I’m Imelda Muller. I sometimes go by Mel, and I’m going to take us away from Texas a little bit to New York. I’m from upstate New York, a small town called Copake Falls. And at the time of my selection, I had just finished anesthesia residency in Baltimore.
Nilufar Ramji
Congratulations.
Imelda Muller
Thanks!
Nilufar Ramji
Go for it!
Ben Bailey
All right. Hi. Good morning. I’m Ben Bailey. I’m from Charlottesville, Virginia. Happy to be here now in Houston, Texas. And before astronaut candidate, I was a army helicopter test pilot.
Nilufar Ramji
Very cool. We have a bunch of test pilots in this class. Let’s go over to our next astronaut candidate.
Yuri Kubo
Great. Hi. My name is Yuri Kubo. I’m from Columbus, Indiana, and I’m an electrical engineer by trade. And, I guess, at time of selection, I was working at Electric Hydrogen as a senior executive running the engineering teams.
Nilufar Ramji
Well, you all come to us very decorated. And once again, congratulations. And I know this week is your first week on site. You know, drinking from a fire hose with everything that’s going on, and I know that some of you have probably had a chance to get to know each other, but we want the rest of the world to get to know you. So what I’d like to do is play a little fun ice breaker with you guys. It’s called Desert Island. You guys ready for that? Okay, so you’re going to be on a desert island for a full year, and all your basic needs are provided for, like your food, your shelter and clothing. But you also get to bring three other things with you, and these three things are a book, a music item, and a luxury item. Think about what those three things are. And I’m going to start with Mel.
Imelda Muller
Oh, goodness, okay, right on the spot. The book was first, I believe. And I really enjoy cooking. I’m not very good at it, but I really enjoy it. And so I think I would bring some sort of cookbook that had the plants or animals from that island so that I could incorporate some maybe original recipes and keep people happy and fed.
As far as music album. I just got a record player, and I’ve been into picking random records based off of purely picture alone. So it’s kind of like choose your own adventure. So I don’t know, maybe I’d pull a pull a random album, and we’ll see how that goes. It might get me voted off the island, but that’s, that’s probably what I do, or Metallica. I like Metallica. So something, something along those lines.
As far as luxury item, ooh, I don’t know. I I think I’m gonna stretch the item a little bit, and I’m gonna say I’m gonna bring my my cat Meatball. He’s, uh, he’s 22 and I bring him everywhere I can. So he’s 22 Yeah, I think he would totally fit in as an island cat. He’d love hanging out under the palm trees, just lounging. Yeah. He’s got an island cat vibe.
Nilufar Ramji
Those are great, three great luxury items. And if I was with you, I’d love for you to cook for me.
Imelda Muller
Absolutely anytime. No guarantees, but-
Nilufar Ramji
We’ll, experiment. Anna, why don’t you go next?
Anna Menon
Sure. All right, so for book might be stretching this a little bit, but I would take the Throne of Glass boxed set of books.
Nilufar Ramji
Box set, smart!
Anna Menon
Or a Kindle with all of that series.
Nilufar Ramji
Oh, that’s great, too!
Anna Menon
And for music album. I have a very eclectic music taste, so I would probably take a like, if I’m allowed to take like, a mixed tape of like, salsa music or country music. Salsa, I feel like would be fun, because you could bring some dancing to the island.
Ben Bailey
Is there, like salsa, country fusion?
Anna Menon
Yes, that’s, there is, and that might be the way to go. Great idea. And then for luxury item, I would bring a coffee maker with some coffee, and I acknowledge that there might not be electricity, in which case I would bring in like a French press variety.
Nilufar Ramji
Yes, those are great.
Ben Bailey
There is electricity. We’re gonna need it later.
Nilufar Ramji
I said all of your basic needs, like food, shelter and clothing, are provided for you. So we’re gonna assume electricity as part of that.
Anna Menon
Excellent.
Nilufar Ramji
Let’s go to Ben.
Ben Bailey
Okay, perfect. I’m gonna follow up with the electricity here shortly. Yep, Ben Bailey here. So as far as book goes, I It is uncommon that I will re-read a book. So I was looking for a book that I could kind of read once and then sort of get lost in it, you know, some sort of like world building book. So I went back to something I knew. I know, I said I don’t re-read books but, but the Lord of the Rings, I figured, had enough lore that goes with it, and enough kind of breadth and depth that I could kind of get lost in that book and relive it over the course of a full year.
Anna Menon
So does that mean you need, you need a box to set also?
Ben Bailey
I honestly, I would take the box set. Maybe with the The Silmarillion in there too, that kind of expands on everything going there.
For music album, I was gonna say something that isn’t gonna I’m not gonna get sick of right away. It’s not super jarring. Can be kind of in the background, or I can get lost in too. And I went with Pink Floyd, one of their, you know, Dark Side of the Moon, or The Wall, or something that that I could kind of just let play, and sort of it kind of ebbs and flows and, you know, just, kind of, you just kind of get lost in it. And then for luxury item, I think there’s definitely electricity, because we’re gonna need it. I’m gonna bring a computer with the internet, and I know that it’s cheating. I’m not gonna have email, you know, outside contact me. But I would like to bring YouTube with me. The YouTube is like my favorite place to waste time or use time or spend time, because you can find help with anything on there.
Nilufar Ramji
That’s true.
Ben Bailey
I’m constantly amazed at the altruism that is on YouTube. There’s just one person somewhere that has this thing that you have, and he wants to show you how to take it apart, fix it and put it back together. And that is amazing. So I feel like I could get a lot of use out of YouTube over the course of a year.
Nilufar Ramji
You know, YouTube, I’m gonna do a little plug here, but our NASA YouTube channel has so much great content as well, so you can learn all about our missions and everything that’s going on live as well as prerecorded. And it’s fabulous. So you can learn all about NASA too.
Ben Bailey
I love that perfect. Thank you for entertaining my wild luxury item.
Rebecca Lawler
Ben, are you going to teach us how to do something on YouTube?
Ben Bailey
There’s a guy that already teaches it to you. I don’t need to teach it. There’s somebody there that does it. That’s what I love. He gets nothing from it. You know, he’s got seven followers, but he just wants to show you how to do it. That’s so fantastic.
Nilufar Ramji
Okay, Becky, top that!
Rebecca Lawler
There’s no chance! there’s no chance! I’m gonna be watching YouTube with Ben. All three of these categories are problematic because I’m a huge book pusher, and I like to read and then recommend books to just about everybody. So I’m going to try to, like, take all of these and just kind of, like, get them into a good sound bite for you. But Lynn Cox, she’s like, this long distance swimmer. She has all these record holders, but she just writes really beautifully about the world, and she has this book that I just started called swimming. I think I’m not sure if Swimming in Antarctica or Swimming to Antarctica. And also, like, as a working mom, being on an island for a year and just having a chance to read would probably be pretty nice. But, yeah, I think it would be something I could share with my crew, because it’s just written really wonderfully. And maybe we could, like, swim off the island like, I don’t know there’s there. Maybe we could learn from the YouTube videos. That’s my book.
For a music album. Also, it could be problem. I don’t want to like, I don’t want to like, I’m a Swifty, but I can listen to Taylor Swift’s Lover album, like, over and over again, and it’s just got like that nice pop feel to it, but I was talking to Mel, there’s like an island vibe, so maybe. We’ll see what record she brings, and then we’ll kind of make it with the way extinction there. Yeah, the wild card. And then for luxury item, I was going to bring a French press, but we’re good crew, because Anna already is bringing a coffee machine, perfect. So I don’t know.
Imelda Muller
You can never have too many. You can never have too many. In case one breaks.
Rebecca Lawler
I don’t know if Chick fil A sauce counts as a luxury item, but if all the other food is provided, then maybe just to like that, to just sort of like change up some of the meals. But yeah, there’s a lot of this. There’s a lot we there’s a lot of areas we could go here.
Nilufar Ramji
My children are obsessed with Chick fil A sauce. I don’t know what’s in it. I’m with you on that. Yeah, I love that. Okay, Yuri, close this out.
Yuri Kubo
All right, yeah, this is Yuri again. Couple different things for book ran through my mind. I like to keep my hands busy. I like to build things. I like to, you- know, do stuff. So for a book, I don’t have a specific title necessarily in mind, but there are a lot of books on kind of ancient inventions, or, you know, like early, early machines, kind of things, like, things that I could build potentially out of, like, you know, fallen palm trees or other things that I could, like, you know, make some rudimentary stone tools or whatever, and then, like, replicate some of these things. Like, maybe I could build a generator out of some coconuts or something. There’s a Gilligan’s Island, like, how-to book here that we could find. But that would, I think, tickle that fancy for me, for like, and keep my hands busy for the for the whole year, while also learning.
Music album. It’s gonna- this is a side of me that not very many people know about, actually. So this is, this is breaking news, and it’s gonna be super nerdy. So I’m really into video game music. I’m not, I used to be a big gamer back in the day, but, like, I haven’t just had time. It’s just just a thing. But there’s like this, this really beautiful growing subculture of, like, of video game music covers on the internet. Lots of them on YouTube, for instance. And there are a lot of folks that are making these, like, amazing albums of video game music on, like, acoustic guitar, on piano or whatever, like taking these things and make it their own. There’s one gentleman, John Oath, that does just like, an incredible job with with an acoustic guitar. So he’s got a bunch of music albums out that are just covers and like that would absolutely get me through. I can listen to those forever because there’s, like, no words. So you can be doing homework, you can be studying, you can do doing whatever, and it doesn’t like distract you. So that’s my music album. Apologize for the the amount of nerd that I just laid on the table here.
Nilufar Ramji
All that’s playing in my head right now, are two Italian brothers from when I was a kid growing up. If you know who I’m talking about.
Yuri Kubo
Indeed! We were talking about right before this. Like, it’s just the amount that they were able to do with this super limited hardware. And, like, you know, making these, these incredible soundtracks with like, these limitations. They were just geniuses, like, of their time.
So, and then luxury item. I wanted to bring a piano, but immediately realized that, like, Island air, humidity, temperature fluctuations, would detune the thing, basically, like immediately. So digital piano is what I’ve decided. Assuming that there is, there’s electricity, which it sounds like there is. Yeah, Ben has assured me that there is, I will bring a digital piano, and that will get me through.
Nilufar Ramji
All right. So we have some practical books to help us build and cook. There’s some caffeine to keep us going. There’s some flavor with our sauces. And then there’s YouTube. We are pretty much covered here. And I really love your guys’ items outside of the box a little bit. And I think outside of getting to know you, we have a little glimpse of what your hobbies and interests are, some of your favorite things. But there are a couple of other things I wanted to ask you guys. So we have a lot of test pilots in this specific class. And I wanted to ask you, for those of you that come from the military background, is, how does your military experience prepare you to be an astronaut, whether those are deployments or being away from family or other areas?
Ben Bailey
Sure, I’ll kick that one off. Ben here. So I mean, aside from the the obvious ones, you know, time away, busy training schedules, long days and and and that sort of stuff, I also think that, the military does a great job with with leadership training, with communication, you know, being able to work with folks very closely for long periods of time is sort of an acquired skill, and I think everybody’s capable of it, but they do a good job of sort of ingraining that in you. And then I was a warrant officer in the army, so it’s a sort of a unique position. Position where you’re not really the ultimate authority on anything, but you have a lot of experience, and so being able to kind of lead peers is sort of something that you focus on and sort of supporting the leadership that’s above you, which I think translates well to NASA, where we kind of come in as a class and work together to try to make it through the next two years of training. So I’m looking forward to kind of using that to help support the team here and and go from there.
Nilufar Ramji
That’s great. Becky.
Rebecca Lawler
I’ve been really fortunate as a test pilot to work, I was a test pilot initially in the Navy, and then I worked when I was a NOAA Corps officer as a NOAA hurricane hunter. I also got to work as a test pilot for that organization, and then now at United and it doesn’t really in each of those organizations, it’s about bringing a team together to solve a problem. It’s the thing, same thing that makes me really excited to work here at NASA, because a scientist will come, or an engineer, or some company will come to you with this idea, and they are like, here’s this thing that’s important to me, because I want to measure this, and I’ve never, it’s never flown before. Like, how can we take this idea and turn it into, like, operational science or something that we could safely put on an airplane? And all these different people are coming from different disciplines and different levels of expertise and different opinions, and you’re all just constantly like working together to just like, get this science to fly. And so I’m excited about bringing those different experiences and just the excitement that I have for working in those teams to our class as we try to get through the next two years, to get ourselves ready to fly, and then to get the equipment and the technology that’s going to take us to the moon and Mars.
Nilufar Ramji
I love that. I’m thinking about all of the science that’s currently performed on space station as well, and how, how this team will potentially contribute to some of that science as well.
So for a lot of you, this may not necessarily be your first introductions to NASA. And I know that we have a flight controller in our, in our presence, we have a seven time NASA intern in our presence.
Imelda Muller
That was really cool.
Yuri Kubo
Who’s counting?
Nilufar Ramji
No, who’s counting? Not me. So I want to ask you, not necessarily about your NASA experience, because we get to learn a lot about that in your bios, but with your work, with the agency before you got this specific job. Do you have like a core NASA memory that has inspired you to explore the universe, or have a calling to be an astronaut? Tell us a little bit about that. And for those of you without the NASA experience, if there is a core memory that you have of your first exposure to NASA, or what you remember that sticks out to you that inspired you to even apply for this job, tell us a little bit about that. Anybody.
Yuri Kubo
Okay, this is Yuri again. I can, I can kick this one off back when I was go. I’m not sure if they still do it or not, I hope they do, but they allowed us to watch Apollo 13. They did a screening of Apollo 13 in historic mission control. So all the co-ops would kind of get together, and then in the evening, they would watch Apollo 13 in historic mission control. It was, like, the most transformative- it was, it was just- you’re sitting in these chairs on the at these consoles, watching the people in the same setting, like working through the most like complex, kind of, like challenging scenario in space you could imagine. And like, it really hit home. Like, this is, this is real. I’m a part of this. These people around me, and the footsteps that I’m following in are, like, just incredible. These are my heroes kind of a thing. And like, just to be in the gravity of that situation, while also kind of like being in that location, watching it happen. It was, was unreal. It really solidified my kind of love of space, love of the agency, love of kind of the mission. And, yeah, I couldn’t, couldn’t have asked for any, like, single moment that was better than that.
Nilufar Ramji
Love that. Anna?
Anna Menon
So I think the the first moment that inspired me to want to be a part of NASA was a field trip that I took when in the fourth grade. I grew up in Houston, and one of my teachers had a unique access to NASA through her family and her father was actually on the Challenger, and she, as a result of that, like, shared NASA with us, and in that experience, I had the chance to kind of role play the life of an astronaut and the life of a flight controller and mission control, and I fell in love with it. I loved the team aspect of it. I loved the solving problems together, and was inspired by by the mission as well. And so that experience just lit this fire in me to want to do this work, and really drove me ever since to dream of being here. And this is a dream come true to be back.
Nilufar Ramji
I’m feeling inspired by both of your guys’ words. Historic Apollo Mission Control has now become a official historic landmark during the Apollo 50th anniversary in 2019 so they don’t do that anymore for the interns, but it is they do other experiences, I’m sure. Yeah. Then back email. What about you guys?
Imelda Muller
Well, previous to going back to anesthesia residency, I was an undersea medical officer with the Navy, and some of our work brought us to the Neutral Buoyancy Lab. I was part of an experimental diving unit that did a lot of work with just learning about human physiology and what we could do with different equipment, and we worked a lot with saturation diving, and so at the time, I was really heavily involved with some of the medical planning, and I remember sitting on the pool deck at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab. And at that point, I really, really loved my job. It was a great opportunity. And the aspects that I loved about my job was working with people from so many different backgrounds, who, even though we spoke a slightly different work language, everybody was very unified by our particular mission at the time. And when I was sitting on this pool deck, kind of looking around, I realized that I was also surrounded by that at NASA, and I’d always sort of like abstractly wanted to be an astronaut and go to space, but that was the moment where I realized, like, oh, actually, you maybe could pursue this. And so it was a very inspiring moment, but it also was, like a very scary moment, because I hadn’t let myself think it could be a real thing up until then.
Nilufar Ramji
I think a lot of people that work at NASA or or start their careers elsewhere, and then eventually make it over to NASA, most people I’ve encountered think, well, I could never work there. And it’s once you get here, you’re like, Wow, I can’t I still, several years later, I still feel that same way.
Rebecca Lawler
There wasn’t, like this clear vision for me to become an astronaut. I don’t think. I think when I think early on as a kid, and even now, I can’t think of many days there’s most days when I look over the sky, I want to be in it, like, I just, I love flying, like I love aviation. And you do, you stare at the moon as a kid, and you just like, think, you’re like, wow, it’s just like this concept that’s just so wild. And I’m from Little Elm used to be a small town in Texas, and I just, it just seemed so inaccessible. And I think there’s probably, maybe there’s a lot of people that are listening or who haven’t even thought about it, because it seems like just like this impossible goal that’s out there, and these people are just absolutely incredible and perfect, and I’m sitting in a room with a lot of them, so that’s it’s true, but I just never felt like it was something that I couldn’t like, like you said, Mel, like, I think you said, it’s like I couldn’t even I was hard to like, get scared, to even let yourself think that that was a possibility. But when I knew I wanted to be in the sky, and then I knew, like, I wanted to be a test pilot, once I found out that was a job, and there was an astronaut, and he’s current, so I’m not gonna name him, just not gonna get that out of me. But he came and spoke to our test pilot school class, and he was like, every flight is a test flight. And I’m like, well, here I am achieving this lifelong dream of becoming a test pilot, and now you’re telling me this is like another way to contribute and to serve as a test pilot in this new capacity. And that’s when the dream really started. And I still can’t believe I’m sitting here, but I hope that people who haven’t let themselves have that dream can give themselves access to that, because it can change your life.
Nilufar Ramji
That’s very inspiring. I love that.
Imelda Muller
Yeah, Becky, that really resonates with me, because it was very similarly when I was a kiddo we lived in the middle of kind of nowhere, but we had these magnificent skies. You could see every star, and I loved that. I was back a few weeks ago, and I still was, like, overwhelmed by the sky, but it just was never on my radar. It wasn’t we didn’t really talk about space growing up there. It wasn’t, like, widely spread in the community. I don’t remember people dressing up as astronauts when there were kiddos for Halloween like so it was completely not a something that was, you know, in your face as like a potential, you know, career that you could pursue, or anything related to space. And so I think it is cool that hopefully we’ll get to talk a little bit more to some kiddos in those communities. And inspire them a little bit.
Nilufar Ramji
Yeah, inspiring our next generation of explorers is incredibly important. So, you know, a lot are, this class in particular, as well as a few that have come before. You are not part of the Apollo generation. So that wasn’t, you know, the moon landing wasn’t always front and center. Some came from the shuttle generation, but now we are heading towards the Moon and Mars with beginning with Artemis. So Ben, close us out with your NASA memory.
Ben Bailey
I think I’m very much in the same category as Becky. Where I… I don’t know, I would maybe consider myself dangerously pragmatic. Where I set. I set what I consider to be lofty but achievable goals. And I don’t know that I had considered NASA to be a achievable goal for a lot of my life, so-
Nilufar Ramji
Lofty, though?
Ben Bailey
Lofty, yes. Like I will set lofty goals, but but at the very edge of what I think is achievable. And so, you know, I’ve always been in awe of what NASA does. You know, I’ve always really loved to see the missions that they’re working and the and the things that they’re doing. But you know, when I left college as an engineer, one of the folks from my class, just one of the friendliest but sharpest and hardest working people I know, went to work for NASA, and I was not in the same category of student that he was, and I he’s still working for NASA NOW, at some point, hopefully I’ll run into him again. But I was, you know, just in awe of the things that he was gonna go do. And I went off to work a great job in engineering, and I really enjoyed it, and I, you know, put a bunch of time and effort into that. And then I left that job and I joined the Army, and I didn’t do it to try to get to NASA. I did it because it was something I was really passionate about and excited. Passionate about and excited about, and I went there and I did that, and tried to do it to the best of my ability. And then I went to Test Pilot School, same thing. I wasn’t really considering NASA at that. It was just I was trying to do the best with things that I was excited about. And then somewhere along the way, all of those things sort of coalesced into something that maybe I could contribute to NASA, something that might make me a good astronaut candidate. And that was the first point where I was like, actually, now it seems achievable to me. And so let me, let me see if I can pursue this path and I’m so thankful to be here. So it’s, it’s an interesting thing to say that like, life changes, ebbs and flows, goals change. You know, the things that the things that people pursue, you wouldn’t necessarily expect them to all wind up where they wind up, but I think what wound up contributing to me being here is just finding stuff that I was passionate in and pursuing them to the best that I could. And it just happened that I wound up here, and it’s been, it’s been awesome.
Nilufar Ramji
Well, congratulations to all of you on making it this far, and I wish you nothing but the best of luck for your training that’s ahead. But I know that we’ve asked this question before in previous, with previous classes, but there’s always an interesting way of how you got the call, or what was it like? Who did you tell? Because you can’t tell anybody that you got this job, but you are, your family is moving to Houston, so you have to tell the people in your household. So were any of you in an interesting place, or have an interesting story about what it was like to get that call or where you were anyone?
Yuri Kubo
This is Yuri again. I was in a meeting with some of my peers, and look down. And my phones get a lot of spam calls. I got another one of those. Looked down. I was like, “Oh no, I know this number,” and I know the area code, yeah, exactly. It’s like, I gotta, I gotta step out. So I, like, kind of played it cool, stepped out. Got super giddy on my way to the to the different conference room that happened to be open, super excited for the call, and then at the end, he’s like, and you can’t tell anyone. Oh, okay, how am I gonna navigate this going back into a meeting with a bunch of my people? Like, I don’t know how to not look it’s the most exciting thing ever. Yeah, exactly. So like channeling all of my previous acting capability and just like, went in stone faced and just sat back down. Was everything okay? Like, yes, everything’s fine. Let’s go back to talking about what we were talking about before. Please look away from me. Yeah, it was, it was tough. It was really tough. But, yeah, that’s fine.
Nilufar Ramji
You can’t play poker.
Yuri Kubo
No, absolutely no. That guy’s got a two seven off suit. It’s like, well, you’re not wrong
Nilufar Ramji
Anyone else?
Rebecca Lawler
This is Becky, and I’m a pilot, so this is probably unsurprising, but I was at an airport when I got the call, and I was actually headed out on a trip, and I had to go. I was working for United Airlines, so I was going through Houston to get to mobile for to pick up a new plane. And part you don’t know when you’re getting the call, so it’s, like, a little bit, it was a little bit metaphorical, like, I’m just trying to get Houston, and I keep getting delayed, and then I get this phone call and I’m like, Oh, I’ll actually be going to Houston permanently, but you can’t, but you can’t. So I get this call, but I you can’t really tell anybody. And so then, so I got delayed. I made it to mobile the next day for delivering a brand new airplane, which is always fun, but I show up and I’m super excited. And you don’t see your coworkers very often in the job that I’m in, and the guy I was flying was like, So what’s new? And actually we haven’t had this conversation. So this is actually he doesn’t, he still doesn’t know up to this point. He’s like, what’s new? I was like, nothing. He’s like, Oh, you seem pretty excited. I’m like, I love these flights. And we got there and we landed. I was like, Can we take a picture together? And he was like, why? And I can’t be like, well, this might be my last flight here as a United Airlines. I couldn’t do I was like, well, let’s just take a picture together. And he’s like… Okay.
Nilufar Ramji
Now he’ll want that picture.
Rebecca Lawler
He has no idea, like, this could be our last, but I couldn’t be like, this could be our last flight together, because I’m not going anywhere, but I’m always gonna look when he’s like, kind of stay. He’s like, kind of stand. He’s like, sort of like, do I just give, like, the military, like, sort of, like, hands on the hip thing or whatever. But I was like, please take a picture with me. He’s like, this wasn’t even a fun flight. I’m like, No, this is great. So I’m always gonna, I’m always gonna be happy looking back at that picture.
Nilufar Ramji
That’s great. Okay, we’re limited on time, so wrap us up. Tell us one thing that people may not know about you. Someone can kick us off, or I can choose somebody… Anna!
Anna Menon
Let’s see. So one thing I definitely don’t think many people know is that I love to scrap the book. I really I love photography. I don’t claim to be good at it, and I also just love capturing memories. And so I, over the years, have done a number of scrapbooks. I like scrapbook my family’s year every year, like I like that. Created kind of records of that, and then created scrapbooks for other various moments in time.
Nilufar Ramji
I can’t wait to see what your scrapbook looks like after your first NASA mission. I’d love to see your Polaris Dawn scraps too.
Anna Menon
Thank you.
Rebecca Lawler
I still end up solo traveling quite a bit, and anytime I’m, like, on a trip, I actually have a tiny watercolor kit with me, because it’s something to do when you’re by yourself. It’s kind of awkward to, like, read at a restaurant or something, but I’ll just kind of do something with it.
Nilufar Ramji
So, a painter?
Rebecca Lawler
Yeah, just water color, a dabble. You know.
Nilufar Ramji
I love that.
Imelda Muller
Take it on the island. Yeah, take on the island.
Rebecca Lawler
Yeah, it’ll already be with me. It’s implied. It’s implied.
Yuri Kubo
Well, you already got one thing out of me in terms of things the other, the other thing maybe I’ll mention is, I mean, obviously, I’m probably, maybe, maybe, obviously, I’m a huge space nerd. So my wife and I actually got married at Space Center Houston, in front, yeah, in front of the Apollo landscape over there, the moon landing. Super cool. Yeah, excited to, excited to go back for real.
Nilufar Ramji
Okay, Ben, top that.
Ben Bailey
I can’t. Let’s see, my wife and I, our hobbies sort of come and go based on where we live. And we’ve moved a fair amount over the last few years. And so we pick up whatever is available in that place. And one of my favorites is sailboat racing. And so coming from Virginia, you know, the Chesapeake Bay has a fair amount of that. And then when I joined the army, I moved to Alabama. Not a lot of sailing in Alabama. There are places, you know, Mobile, but that’s not where we were. And then out to Washington State, and there’s a lot there, so that was a lot of fun. And then back to Alabama, And then back to Virginia, back into sailboat racing. And I’m, I feel fortunate to move to Houston, Galveston Bay, and I’ve already been looking for a boat. So if anybody’s listening to this podcast, knows a good boat to race on. You know, reach out to NASA.
Nilufar Ramji
Mel, wrap us up.
Imelda Muller
Sure. Well, hard to top, but fun fact, but embarrassing fact. Maybe. Depending on if you play with me or not. But I just, I just learned how to play pickleball. It’s this thing everybody knows about pickleball, and I feel like I was probably the last person on this planet to find out about pickleball.
Ben Bailey
My paddle is in my car. It’s one of those hobbies based on locality.
Imelda Muller
I see some tournaments in our future, but my extended family spent some time together in the summer, and I was lucky enough to go this year, and they were very kind and patient and gave me all of their tips and pointers, and I still was the worst person on the court, but maybe they’ll have me back next year and then you can teach me your skills.
Ben Bailey
I would be happy to.
Nilufar Ramji
That’s great. Thank you guys so much for joining us. It’s been an honor, and once again, congratulations. I wish you all the best with your training and everything that’s ahead of you, and we look forward to having you back on the podcast.
Everyone
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Nilufar Ramji
Thank you everyone for being here with us today. We are on group number two of our astronaut candidate class, and I got to speak to five of your best friends just earlier. And now I’m going to speak to the five of you, and I have some of the same questions, and I’m going to try and mix it up a little bit. So first things first, I just want to say, Welcome to NASA. And like I told the last group. This is the first day of the rest of your life. You’ve had a really fun week here with us this week, and I’m sure you’ve been drinking from a fire hose. It’s been, it’s probably been overwhelming but exciting all at the same time. So first go around, I want to get to know all of you. I want our listeners to get to know all of you. So we’ll start off with your name, your hometown, and your previous profession, or perhaps what you what you did in school. Erin!
Erin Overcash
Okay, good morning. I am Erin Overcash. Call sign is Loft. I’m a lieutenant commander in the US Navy. I’m from Goshen, Kentucky originally, which is a suburbs in the outskirts of Louisville, the biggest city in Kentucky. Grew up with a fortunately, really good public school system and some challenging teachers, and still had exposure to kind of all the art, science culture that a big city brings. Went to college at the University of Colorado. I knew I wanted to study aerospace engineering. I was that kid obsessed with airplanes and space flights. So knowing I wanted to study that there were no programs within the state of Kentucky when I was looking so was privileged to get into the Navy ROTC program. They paid for school, definitely could not have afforded out of state tuition without an opportunity like that. So really leaned into kind of naval service and serving my country. My first job in the Navy was actually in the world class athlete program, so I was effectively a professional athlete, living and training full time with the USA Rugby Team as a Naval ensign. After that, I went through flight school, earned jet grades, earned my wings, ended up in F-18s, went through Lamour, California for training, spent my first three year operational sea tour in Japan, actually, which was an awesome experience and totally unexpected, but had a really good time out there. And then went through US Naval Test Pilot School, and then most previously the X-23 Salty Dogs in Pawtuxet River, Maryland, as a FA-18 test pilot. So some of the things I did as a test pilot that hoping to bring to the class were a lot of out of control departure demonstration, teaching and instructing. I got to do some really unique flight tests there. Worked with some incredible people, and, you know, excited to be here and join this team.
Nilufar Ramji
It’s so exciting. I feel like you spent half your life in the air. Is that right? Sound accurate?
Erin Overcash
I wish it was more. I wish it was close to that. But yeah, it feels like it. I mean, probably every major decision in life has been driven by this passion for aviation and space flight.
Nilufar Ramji
I love that, Katherine, and I’m going to let you pick the next person.
Katherine Spies
Oh, I love that. A lot of responsibility. My name is Katherine Spies. I’m originally from Southern California, and similar to Erin, I think, you know, growing up in that region really has a rich history in aerospace and really informed the path that I ended up choosing. I was, you know, as in our family, we would attend air shows up and down the coastline, and then was very lucky as a kid to attend some Shuttle landings. The shuttles, as we remember, used to take off from the East Coast, but sometimes they would land. Sometimes they would land on the West Coast, up at Edwards Air Force Base. And so was very lucky to attend some of those. And there’s, you know, as a kid, a super vivid memory where actually the dry lake bed was quite muddy. Just remember my brother kind of being caked head to toe, and and seeing the shuttle kind of re-enter. And you just kind of wonder, like, what, what does it take for me to be there? And set a trajectory. And so certainly, you always interested in in science and math. I don’t think at that age I knew what an engineer was, but luckily, we figured that out eventually. And and similar to Aaron, you know, I was in ROTC at the University of Southern California, I guess slightly different, because it wasn’t UC Boulder, but it was in ROTC. So I went to University of Southern California on an ROTC scholarship and joined the United States Marine Corps. And kind of had an idea that I wanted to be a pilot and a test pilot. And so that trajectory took me initially to the Marine Corps training ground in Quantico, Virginia, and then to Camp Pendleton, and then on a series of deployments to Test Pilot School. And then I was super lucky when I, you know, at a pivotal point where I either was going to go on a on another, you know, tour in the Marine Corps, or potentially look at another layer of education. So ended up at Harvard University for a joint degree there and then out of Amazon. And then my most previous role was at Gulfstream aerospace, working on the G-700 and G-800 certification. And then lucky to be here in Class 24 with all of my new best friends and and just feel so honored and privileged to start this journey and to be able to join the JSC team, and already in this first week, we’ve seen so much of what they do, and we’re just, I think, also honored to get to work with you, you all here and to see how we can contribute with our past experiences.
Nilufar Ramji
It’s an honor.
Katherine Spies
And so for my next pick, Cameron.
Cameron Jones
All right. Is it because I was sitting right next to you? Thanks.
I’m Cameron Jones. I grew up in a small town in Northwest Illinois called Savannah, about 3000 people. I then went to the University of Illinois, got my undergrad and graduate degrees. There also an ROTC graduate, but from the Air Force side. So I did that to get my commission, and then went out to pilot training, where then I got my wings and started flying F-22s, which I did for most of my career, went from Langley Air Force Base up to Alaska down to Nellis for in Las Vegas to become a weapons officer for a little bit, and did that job. And then eventually went to Test Pilot School, became a test pilot, which is what I was doing just before coming here. Did a quick stint in the DC area at DARPA, and now here at NASA.
Like you guys, I’m super excited to be here. I grew up, you know, always wanting to be an astronaut. My dad was a private pilot, which helped give me the aviation bug. We didn’t really have any military in my immediate family, but knew it was a path to get to here. Like Erin, I played sports growing up. Unlike Erin, I was not elite at any of them. You could call me slightly average, so knew that that wasn’t going to be the path, but I liked the teamwork aspect of it, being part of awesome teams, high performing teams, which led me towards this career path. And that’s been true in all the fighter squadrons I’ve been in, and in the short week of meeting everyone here, it’s also definitely been true. So also super excited to be here, and yeah, looking forward to it.
Nilufar Ramji
Congratulations.
Cameron Jones
Thanks.
Nilufar Ramji
Who’s your next victim?
Cameron Jones
I pick Lauren.
Lauren Edgar
All right. Hi everyone. I’m Lauren Edgar. And I grew up in Sammamish, Washington, which is just outside of Seattle. And I think growing up in the Pacific Northwest really gave me an appreciation for the outdoors as well, as you know the rich aviation history that exists there as well. So I resonate with Kate on that one. I grew up going to the Museum of Flight and feeling inspired by pursuing a career in aerospace. But actually, when I was in second grade, I had the chance to see a shuttle launch, and that was the moment that I decided I wanted to be an astronaut. And I’m that little kid that never gave up on that dream. So I went off to college, thought I was going to pursue engineering, and then ultimately found geology, and I just loved being able to explain why the landscape looks the way that it does. And it kind of connected my passion for the outdoors with the field of study. And so did my undergrad at Dartmouth, and then grad school at Caltech, which was where I first got involved in some of NASA missions, like the Mars Exploration Rovers. So my background is more on the planetary science side. I’ve contributed to missions to Mars and the Moon, as well as doing a lot of field work here on earth to understand what we’re seeing on other planets. So for the last decade, I’ve been working at the US Geological Survey, and I’ve been working with NASA a lot, and so it’s really wonderful to be here, finally contributing in this role, and along with some really awesome classmates here that can’t wait for you to get to know a bit more. So with that, I’ll turn to Adam.
Katherine Spies
Wait, Lauren, can I ask a quick question? You know, the USGS things on the top of mountains?
Lauren Edgar
Yes, the survey markers?
Katherine Spies
Yeah, the survey markers. Have you ever done one of those?
Lauren Edgar
I have never installed one. But I have taken many a photo with those.
Katherine Spies
Are there any left that we can go do?
Lauren Edgar
Oh, to add new markers?
Katherine Spies
Yeah, or they’ve all been done?
Lauren Edgar
That is a great question. I do not know. There’s more to explore!
Cameron Jones
We should get to the bottom of this.
Katherine Spies
I always wondered. I desperately want to participate.
Lauren Edgar
I will say there are none on other planets. So…
Nilufar Ramji
Yet. *cough* Moon *cough*
Adam Fuhrmann
Okay, I guess I’ll close out our group. Hey everybody, I’m Adam Fuhrmann. I’m a major in the US Air Force. My flying call sign is Hawk. I grew up in Leesburg, Virginia, which is Northern Virginia, kind of outside the DC metro area. And I kind of got my passion for aerospace, aviation, space flight, when I was about 7, 8, 9 years old. There’s a specific moment for me where my dad was an aerospace engineer, and it was a take your kid to work day. And at the time, it was Orbital Sciences, now part of Northrop Grumman there in the Northern Virginia area. And he took me in when they were building the X-34 space planes, the unmanned hypersonic space planes. Unfortunately, those never actually got to fly in space, but walking in as an eight year old and seeing all these engineers in the clean suits like inside this space plane was just amazing to me. And just seeing that human beings could build something like that and work together to do that really kind of ignited the spark in me for aerospace, and then also have a lot of pilots in my family too. So those two kind of things kind of set the trajectory of my career and what I wanted to do with my life.
I went to undergrad at MIT up in Boston and studied aerospace there, where I also did Air Force ROTC was where I got my commission out of there. And then after I graduated, I went to pilot training at Columbus, Mississippi to become an Air Force pilot. That’s where I met my wife. She was studying to be a veterinarian at Mississippi State at the time, we got to meet there, and then became an F-16 pilot in the Air Force. Had assignments in South Carolina deployments. I was in Korea for a bit, taught as an instructor at New Mexico, and then went to Test Pilot School in at Edwards Air Force Base. And as test pilot, spent about four or five years, kind of working on improving the F-16 as well as the F-35 and have been doing that up until the point I got selected to be a part of this class. And I’m super excited to be joining this amazing group of, you know, nine other human beings. Really, everyone I met in the selection process was absolutely incredible, and I’m just honored to be here.
Nilufar Ramji
One of 8000, Adam. You’re one of 8000 applicants. Congratulations.
Adam Fuhrmann
I still feel like they maybe made a mistake, but hopefully-
Nilufar Ramji
You’re here for a reason, and I appreciate getting to know all of you. I have so many more questions, but I do want to play the ice breaker we played with the previous group. We have a different set of items that we’d like you to bring with you on your desert island. So this ice breaker, as I told the last group, is called Desert Island, and if you’ve heard of it, you’re going to be on a desert island for a full year. And basically all of your regular needs, like food, shelter, clothing, those are provided for you, but you get to bring three other items with you. And for you all, it’s a book, a movie and a special food. So gonna give you a second to think a little bit about that. And I’m gonna start with Cameron. Let’s talk to you about your three favorite things you’re gonna bring with you on your desert island.
Cameron Jones
Well, you’ll be able to tell I didn’t pick a theme for any of these, and my tastes are pretty different, and all the things that I like. So picking favorites is hard. My wife would say I’ve got a really good memory for my work stuff, but not so much for my home stuff. So I’ve really got to think about things like what my favorites are, and things of that nature. Luckily, I remember birthdays and anniversaries, since those are numbers for me. So that’s good. That’s a definite, definite benefit in that field. For the book, I think right now it’d probably be a book called 11/22/63, it’s a historical fiction by Stephen King. It’s really interesting, compelling book, not horror, like the rest of his books. So yeah, something I enjoyed, but I had an hour and a half commute at my last job, so I got to digest a lot of different audio books and figure that out all along the way.
For a movie, it’s probably Remember the Titans, like I said earlier, like being part of awesome, strong teams, and that’s kind of like the pinnacle of that for me, of storming, norming, performing for a strong team.
And then special food, easy. Pizza. You know, never get tired of it ever, I will always go to pizza with any of you.
Adam Fuhrmann
Yeah, we’ll hold you to that.
Cameron Jones
Yeah, you can.
Nilufar Ramji
All right, Katherine.
Katherine Spies
Books is hard because I just. Just am a voracious reader and love books, so I want to take all my books with me, but I would say I would probably choose Ender’s Game. It’s just has evolved from such a- it’s just so crazy to read now versus when I first read it. So the first in that trilogy.
And then for movie, The Count of Monte Cristo, I will say that early 2000 version is my favorite. The newest one is pretty good, but pretty good. But I would also watch any of those Count of Monte Cristos or bring the book. So I think that would be my movie.
And then for special food, I would probably say bon bon candies. It’s like a Swedish candy. And you put those bad boys in the fridge and they are so good. So if we’re having pizza, I’m having Bon Bon candies.
Nilufar Ramji
Good combo. Nice. Adam.
Adam Fuhrmann
Okay, let’s see. For for book, I’d have to go with The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. The reason is, I’ve probably read that six different times now, and every time I approach it a different phase of my life, I read it completely differently and get a different lesson out of it. And I’m sure I could read it, you know, another dozen times until I’m, you know, 80 years old, and get a different lesson out of it each time. And it’s probably also fitting reading it on a desert island, because it’s a somewhat, you know, adventurous, philosophical book.
Let’s see, as far as movie I would say The Matrix. The original one, because I really like the Sci Fi genre, but that one also has a lot of, like, really high philosophy to it, and also it came out when I was nine years old. So as you could tell, I was a pretty impressionable nine year old. So that one stuck with me, and I’ll always watch that when it’s on.
And let’s see food. This is kind of cheating, but like a meat and cheese board, or like a charcuterie board, it’s really like 30 different foods, which is why I love it.
Katherine Spies
Yeah, it does feel like a luxury, yeah.
Adam Fuhrmann
And I tell my wife whenever she’s like, “Hey, what do you want to have for your birthday? Or what should we have for a party?” I’m like, Let’s do, like, a spread of a bunch of stuff. And so I don’t know if that’s cheating, but that’s what I do.
Lauren Edgar
Love that. Adult Lunchables.
Adam Fuhrmann
Yeah, they’re adult Lunchables. Thank you. Yeah, exactly.
Nilufar Ramji
So Lauren top that one.
Lauren Edgar
Oh boy, for a book, I might actually take the creative solution and say I would want to bring a photo book with pictures of family, friends and my dog. I know that that would if I was away from them for a year, I’d want to see their faces.
For a movie. If we’re on a desert island, I’m leaning towards something like Castaway or Swiss Family Robinson. Maybe for some inspiration, get some ideas of how we would live there for a bit.
And then special food can’t go wrong with ice cream. And you know, after we’ve had our pizza and bon bons, let’s wash it down and some ice cream. The charcuterie board can be the appetizer to start us off. But I feel like ice cream always lifts me up when I’m in a in a low mood.
Nilufar Ramji
I love that. Favorite flavor of ice cream?
Lauren Edgar
It is so hard to pick just one flavor. I think growing up, I would have said mint chocolate chip. But, you know, there’s cookie dough. And I love, like, you know, some of the more creative flavors that are out now, like, give me a good pumpkin spice would be really nice this time of year. I can’t choose.
Nilufar Ramji
I was gonna say, are you a chocolate or a fruit person?
Lauren Edgar
I do tend to lean more on the sweet end, like chocolate or vanilla base with things mixed in, but sometimes a nice strawberry ice cream. Like, sounds great, yeah. Who wants to go out for ice cream after this?
Cameron Jones
Yeah, pizza and ice cream.
Nilufar Ramji 18:23
Love that. Erin?
Erin Overcash
All right, for book I love to read, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. Right now, my current spiel is, I’m on this journey of like human history. I had a collection of essays given to me by a mentor one time called The Lessons of History. And it was so well written by these historians who had spent their whole life publishing, traveling the world and publishing about human history, that it kind of inspired me to go on this journey. So I’m in the midst of their like 10 volume, 1000s of pages, trying to gain some perspective. So probably just like a big book of human history that will keep me entertained for a long time.
All right, for movie, I’ve always been a fan of the original Twister with Helen Hunt, and-
Nilufar Ramji
I just watched that.
Erin Overcash
Oh, it’s so good. I think it’s something about the theme of, like, a strong female protagonist leading a team of scientists on this epic adventure, and there’s like, a positive outcome at the end. It kind of seems fitting for like a life story. But watch the movie if you haven’t seen it. Great soundtrack as well.
Special food, I would say, like fresh vegetables. That sounds silly and lame, but like, it’s so hard to get fresh vegetables when you eat out or, like, especially. She on an island where everything has to be like brought in. You know, it’s hard to get produce. I think that would be a good, a happy balance.
Nilufar Ramji
Wow. So between the five of you, I think we have a good gourmet meal. We have some amazing pizza, hot, cold, frozen, all of it, all of it. I agree too. What’s amazing I would I want to be on a desert island with this particular group, no biases, but you guys have all a lot of my favorites, the movies, the books I love, that Cameron your book had a title of a number.
Cameron Jones
Yeah. Maybe that’s telling, huh?
Nilufar Ramji
Yeah, a little bit.
Cameron Jones
Huh, strange.
Nilufar Ramji
So four out of five of you have mentioned your ROTC, ROTC experience, and so I wanted to ask you a little bit about your background in your military experience and how that compares to being an astronaut. So have you thought a little bit about that? And can you tell us if what you’ve experienced in your previous life, your previous career, has prepared you for what you’re about to begin?
Katherine Spies
One thing I know, actually Adam and I were talking about just the other day, is how much of what we learn in the military is about understanding the risk in front of you and then determining or figuring out a way to mitigate that risk, right? And so we just developed that skill set over many years, inside and outside the cockpit as aviators. And I think that skill set, particularly coming to the NASA team, there’s a really nice overlap there with what we anticipate the work here being. And I think sometimes, you know the mitigation is, is where we focus, but it’s really identifying those risks, being able to take the time, and you need the right people in the room to be able to do it right. So that’s a that’s that’s a team event. You need people with different perspectives and different backgrounds to come together to be able to highlight those different areas of risk so that you can start to figure out a path forward. And I think when we look towards our previous work in our squadrons, but then certainly now here at JSC, like, you know, we’ve been here for five days. So there’s people that have been here, you know, for 30 or 40 years, and so being able to be at the table with such seasoned professionals will be super exciting, as we’re able to layer our perspective with their perspectives and and see what’s in front of us and how we achieve the missions put before us.
Adam Fuhrmann
Yeah, and to pile on to what Kate said, we get to practice those skills operationally, but then when you move into test flying, we also get the experience of, you know, the majority of your time is not in the cockpit doing the thing in the air to get the mission. It’s all the planning that you do with the engineering team ahead of time. The planning, the practice, the simulation, so that when you do that flight to get the data to accomplish the mission, you’re as prepared as you can possibly be for every contingency, and you’ve worked as a team and practiced all that together with the folks in the control room and the engineers on the ground beforehand. So having not been on the other side myself, I would expect that would translate pretty well to what NASA does. But instead of airplanes, it’s for human space flight.
Cameron Jones
Yeah, and pile on for the test perspective, I think just evaluating airplanes that have infinite degrees of freedom in terms of design space, it’s pretty easy for a pilot to look at something and be like, I don’t like this, or I do like this, but figuring out the solution that 95% of people are going to like and why that is the case, I think is directly applicable when you’re designing any new widget, like a new spacecraft, for example. So I think that’ll be useful.
Nilufar Ramji
Erin, what about you?
Erin Overcash
I think there is a misperception from a lot of people around me, you know, like wanting to be an astronaut, but they don’t have the background or the desire to be a test pilot. You definitely don’t have to be a test pilot. It seems like the perspective test pilots bring is probably from the test test pilot school really teaches you, like on an academic level, how do you communicate technical details? How do I explain the fact that I’m feeling negative G in the cockpit, like my legs are floating up, but I somehow have to go full lateral stick, but I also have no like reference to push my body around, and what that feels like, and how that affects my controllability of the airplane, and what the airplane is doing in response to communicate something that dynamic in words and phrases that people who are not aviators can connect to. I think that’s probably like the skill that we bring just because Test Pilot School provides that academic background and that training. So, you know, a lot of people in our class have test pilot backgrounds, but really, I think that’s, you know, we’re bringing this like technical communication, technical writing ability with us. You know, just for all those people out there who don’t have any intent of joining the military or learning how to fly.
Nilufar Ramji
I have a follow up question for you. Okay, at the beginning of our podcast, when you introduced yourself, you shared your call sign with us. Can we hear a little bit about that story?
Erin Overcash
Yes, My call sign is politically correct. Loft stands for “look out for that tree.” I was not flying. Don’t worry. I was walking.
Nilufar Ramji
You were walking! Okay.
Erin Overcash
The context is, there was an there was a day I was gonna go do this, like, once in a lifetime flight, and I got to shoot this really cool, really large weapon, and we were gonna go sink a ship, and it was all for training. And my wing man was an O6. He was my boss’s boss. So like, the highest ranking person in our air wing. It was a big deal that he was next to us. And it was a big deal that my, my WSO and I were able my weapon systems officer, that’s the back seat of the F-18. We were going to get to have this opportunity. So the highest ranking guy and my commanding officer, my boss, were our wing man to, like, make sure we didn’t mess up. No pressure.
So I have the keys to the rental car. I’m looking behind me as we walk out of the building. We have to fly to our jets on the flight line. We were in Guam and of the like, four parking lots and two grass fields, there was one tree, and I managed to walk right into it while looking backwards, and I hit my head so hard that my squadron mates turned and looked around. They’re like, Oh my gosh. Are you okay? Yeah. And I had broken my glasses. They were like, hanging crooked off my face. I had split my eyebrow open, so I was, I was like, dripping tons of blood, and here comes my boss’s boss, who’s riding in the car with me, and he’s the first person to see me bleeding. And he’s like, are you okay? Can you still fly? And I’m like, desperately wiping this off my face at this point. I’m like, yeah, absolutely everything’s fine, sir. Here’s the keys you can drive.
So we walk into the maintenance desk to, like, actually sign for our jets. And that’s when my commanding officer sees me, my boss, and he’s like, Oh my gosh. Are you okay? Like, it looked worse. So into the story we like, we still go fly the flight. I had like, a band aid on, and at some point I was pulling Gs in the jet, and it felt like I was crying tears of blood, but it was like the blood coming out of my face. So anyway, I landed. I absolutely needed stitches, but I was like, my wound was, like, swollen and a little bit dried out at that point, and so I couldn’t get stitches. And my flight doc was mad at me. Walked around with this huge open gash on my face, which looked terrible for a month, but we shot the weapon, and it was a successful flight, and it was awesome.
Nilufar Ramji
I love that.
Cameron Jones
Worth it.
Lauren Edgar
And amazingly, you don’t have a scar or anything! Wow!
Nilufar Ramji
So that’s where that call sign came from.
Erin Overcash
That’s where that that’s where Loft comes from.
Nilufar Ramji
Wow, did the four of you know this story?
Lauren Edgar
No, I’m I’m learning today,
Nilufar Ramji
Adam, you mentioned your call sign too.
Adam Fuhrmann
I did. However, my story is not as good as as Loft’s and in the Air Force, we have the tradition of not sharing your call sign story unless someone buys you a beer. So if anyone on the podcast finds me someday, I’ll be happy to show you the story of that one, but…
Nilufar Ramji
I’m buying you a beer.
Adam Fuhrmann
Okay, yeah, let’s do it.
Nilufar Ramji
Thank you guys so much for that background. Now I know that there is always an interesting way that you get this job. You get the call. You’re probably beside yourself when you get the call, or you’re like me, really, I can’t believe it. So we’ve had people in interesting places that have received the call, and if you have an interesting place you were in, I would love to hear where you were when you received the call to say, Hey, you’re about to become an astronaut candidate. Or if you don’t have an interesting story about where you were, I would love to hear because you you have to move to Houston, so you have to tell your family. So who is the first person you told?
Cameron Jones
Yeah, it’s Cameron. I’ll start this off. So we found out about two months ago that we got the job. About two months and three days ago, I made a military move from California to Washington, DC. So I was sitting on the floor of my new house with my wife and daughter next to me when Joe gave us the call to say, Hey, do you want the job? So we hadn’t even gotten any furniture or our box was delivered for that house yet, but we were still super pumped, and everyone was around me that’s close to me, so it was really cool to get to share that moment, and then we had to figure out how we were gonna get out of that house and into a house down here. So that was the last two months.
Nilufar Ramji
Well, at least you didn’t have to pack again.
Cameron Jones
That’s right. We kind of camped for the six weeks we were in DC, in the house, and left about 90% of everything packed, and then got to find out what. Was broken when we got here, nice, kind of waiting game.
Nilufar Ramji
That’s actually really cool. That was interesting.
Katherine Spies
And like Cameron said, you know, it’s a long time to wait. And so the first person I told was my mom, and I’m sure, like all moms before her, when they find out their kid is going to be a NASA, they’re just like, over the moon, right? It’s, it’s cool for a parent and but I will say, you know, like, Mom, you really can’t share it with anybody. And, you know, she’s right, but you know, maybe my, my dear friends that I walk with, I’m like, Mom, you you can’t tell anybody, like you’re not allowed to tell anybody. And it’s like, you know, what about the the 150 people at church, or, like, the all the people at the pickleball club, at the book club? At the end, you’re like, it has been a tough two months to be Jeannie Spies, and she is bursting at the seams and so excited for Monday so that she can share. And I think, like all, you know, all parents, they’re all so excited for us. And it’s been a, it’s a hard, it’s a hard two months to wait with that information.
Cameron Jones
I can echo that sentiment from my side.
Nilufar Ramji
Who else? Lauren?
Lauren Edgar
Yeah, so I actually gotten a heads up that calls might be going out that day. And so you kind of look at the clock, and you start, you know, wondering if a call is going to come through. And then, you know, business hours in Houston kind of came and went, and you’re like, bummer. Didn’t get a call. Like, you know, thanks for playing, but try again. And so I was home at that point and a call comes through from an unknown number. But I actually had a contractor planning to come to my house the next day. So I thought it was probably like calling to confirm your appointment, and then answered the phone, and, you know, Joe [Acaba] introduced himself, and April Jordan was there too, and they started laughing, probably because I sounded so surprised that that was who was on the other end of the line. So yeah, I was super excited and humbled to get that call. The first person I told, I guess, was my dog, because she was the only one home with me, and then immediately called my husband and my family, and I have some family that lives in Sydney, Australia, and so it was really fun to connect with them and tell my niece and nephew about this. But I think everyone is really excited to be able to talk freely about this. Instead of keeping this secret that we have had for two months.
Nilufar Ramji
You have some really good secret keepers in your family is two months, and we still have a whole weekend!
Erin Overcash
And probably some really bad secret keepers too.
Cameron Jones
I imagine there are some leaks.
Nilufar Ramji
Well, I know the world can’t wait to meet you, Erin or Adam. Do you guys have a fun story?
Adam Fuhrmann
Let’s see. When I got the call, I was driving home from work on a pretty busy highway, like Rush Hour, and when, you know, I answered the phone and it was Joe, I could hear what he was saying, but it didn’t really sink in. And in order to not run off the road, I just took the first exit that was available and just parked in a random parking lot to let it sink in. And it was definitely a strange combination of disbelief, excitement and then just gratitude to be able to have the opportunity to join this team. And then finished up the drive home and immediately told my wife and kids, and then I think my parents, are who I called that night. But it’s really cool moment, something you dream of.
Nilufar Ramji
I can only imagine. Erin?
Erin Overcash
Yeah, it was a Monday evening, and I remember there had been like a JSC all hands, something or other. So people who worked here had heard that calls had gone out, and all of a sudden our, like, chat group with our interview people, our fellow interview people, were like, Did you guys hear about this? Is this true? Did anyone get a call? What’s going on? Did you get a call? And, like, I hadn’t gotten a call. I was at the gym. It was like seven o’clock. I’m like, Okay, well, I guess that’s it for me. I’ll just, you know, go home, keep living my life, about to go on deployment, we’ll keep training. And it was like 8:30 that night, and similar to Lauren, like, you get the call, and it’s just an unlisted number. It says unknown. And I remember my spouse and I were on the couch together, and all of a sudden we’re like, oh my, this might be it. And so we’re like, flinging blankets and pillows trying to find the remote to turn the TV off. And we had this, like, last moment of looking at each other, knowing that, like, our lives could be about to change. And then, you know, answered the call, and it was Joe and April, and they, they offered us, that offered me the job, and they said, if you still want it, and my first words on this phone call were, “no way. I mean, I mean, yes, of course. But like, no way.” And I’m sure, as we, like, we probably all experienced, like you can’t go to sleep after that, like you’re just so amped up, like it’s such an awesome moment. So Liz and I went for a walk on the beach, and for like, the rest of the evening, the only word I could say was, every few minutes I would just look at her and be like, “Wow… Wow. Wow! Can you believe it? Wow!” Oh, it was awesome.
Lauren Edgar
And then there’s actually several days where you don’t hear anything and you think you were hallucinating, yeah, and all you have is an unknown number at a certain time to point back to on your phone. You’re like, was that convinced that you, like, dreamed the whole thing.
Erin Overcash
And you like, have to you, like, need to tell your job so that they can replace you. Like, I had a squadron waiting for me, and they’re on the boat crossing the ocean to go to a combat zone. And I’m like, well, I need to tell my next boss that I’m not coming so you can, like, execute your backup plan. But I also had, like, no official anything from anyone. I had just had this phone call from an unknown number. I can’t even give you, like, a point of contact to talk to, maybe.
Cameron Jones
Trust me, Boss, I’m an astronaut.
Erin Overcash
Please take my word for it.
Nilufar Ramji
My goodness, I think we need to ask the astronaut office to record the phone calls next time and put them as part of the podcast, just to hear “No way!”
Cameron Jones
Might be an embarrassing reaction.
Nilufar Ramji
I love that. Well, thank you guys so much. I really enjoyed chatting with all of you, and I hope the world gets to know you. Congratulations once again. I wish you nothing but the best as you begin the next two years of the rest of your life. Thanks for being here.
Everyone
Awesome. Thank you.
Nilufar Ramji
Thank you so much for sticking around. I hope you enjoyed getting to know this new astronaut candidate class.
You can check out the latest from all around the agency at nasa.gov and you can find out more about the new class of astronaut candidates at nasa.gov/astronauts.
Our full collection of episodes and all of the wonderful NASA podcasts are online at nasa.gov/podcasts. And to find out more about the astronaut application process, check out episodes 136 and 325.5, and then you can also meet the previous astronaut classes on episodes 2, 325, and 392.
On social media, we are on the NASA Johnson Space Center pages of Facebook, X, and Instagram. And if you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, you can email us at nasa-houstonpodcast@mail.nasa.gov
This interview was recorded on September 19, 2025.
Our producer is Dane Turner. Audio engineers are Will Flato and Daniel Tohill. And our social media is managed by Kelcie Howren. Houston, we have a podcast was created and is supervised by Gary Jordan. Big thanks to Chelsey Ballarte for helping to bring this episode to life. And of course, thanks again to our NASA astronaut group 24 for taking the time to come on the show.
Give us a rating and feedback on whatever platform you’re listening to us on, and tell us what you think of our podcast. We’ll be back next week.
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