A geologist, a former SpaceX launch director and a commercial astronaut; meet NASA’s 10 new astronaut candidates

With its eyes on creating a persistent human presence on the Moon and pushing closer to crewed exploration of Mars, NASA announced its newest class of astronaut candidates.

The collection of ten women and men from across the United States were selected from more than 8,000 applications submitted. They represent the 24th astronaut candidate (ASCAN) class picked by NASA.

“This selection was challenging, competitive and very difficult, but what we have for you here today is a group of individuals who are not only exceptional, but who will be inspirational for the United States of America and for our planet,” said Norm Knight, Director of NASA’s Flight Operations Directorate.

One by one, the new astronaut candidates, donning blue flight suits, walked across a stage at the Teague Auditorium at the Johnson Space Center, greeted by a the applause of a full house filled with family, friends, fellow astronauts and dignitaries. It was their first public event that marks the beginning of their two-year training.

In addition to those who spoke on stage, NASA played a prerecorded message from the astronauts onboard the International Space Station who help make up Expedition 73.

“We’re a close-knit group in the Astronaut Office and we’re thrilled to welcome you into the fold,” said NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, who arrived on orbit back in April. “You can always count on us for support, but you should also lean on each other as a class too. The people sitting beside you right now will become more than colleagues. They’ll become lifelong friends.”

This new group of ASCANs, who will be named at a later date by the 23rd astronaut class, ‘The Flies’, is the first group of astronauts comprised of more women than men. It’s also the first cohort since Astronaut Group 11 in 1985 that didn’t include any African-American candidates.

Among the six women in this group is Anna Menon, the first astronaut candidate in history who has flown in orbital space prior to being selected as a NASA astronaut. The SpaceX employee, who has been involved with training astronauts on the company’s Dragon spacecraft, was a mission specialist and medical officer for the commercial, free-flying Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024.

Her husband, Anil Menon, was selected as a member of The Flies, which were named in 2021. They are just the fourth married couple to simultaneously serve as active members of NASA’s astronaut corps.

Another SpaceX alumnus who is part of this new class is Yuri Kubo. The 40-year-old from Columbus, Indiana spent 12 years at SpaceX where he served as the director of avionics for the Starshield program and at another point, as launch director for Falcon 9 rocket launches.

Lauren Edgar, 40, is no stranger to NASA. Before her current role working at the U.S. Geological Survey, she was the deputy principal investigator for the Artemis 3 Geology Team, helping to establish goals for future astronauts who will explore the lunar surface.

As has been the case with previous cases, there are multiple military pilots who are now in the pipeline to become astronauts. That includes Erin Overcash, 34, who is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy.

In additional to logging more than 1,300 flight hour across 20 aircraft, Overcash also trained alongside the USA Rugby Women’s National Team while she was a participant in the Navy’s World Class Athlete Program.

Fellow Navy pilot Rebecca Lawler, 38, accumulated more than 2,800 flight hours across 45 aircraft. Among her more unique flight experiences, she flew as hurricane hunter for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

She was serving as a test pilot for United Airlines when she got the call from NASA.

Other active service members selected by NASA include Ben Bailey, the 38-year-old chief warrant officer in the U.S. Army, and Adam Fuhrmann, at 35-year-old U.S. Air Force major, and Cameron Jones, the 35-year-old major in the U.S. Air Force. Bailey and Fuhrmann are both from Virginia while Jones crew up in Illinois.

Rounding out the group of ten are Imelda Muller, a 34-year-old former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and resident in the anesthesiologist department at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and Katherine Spies, a 43-year-old U.S. Naval Test Pilot School graduate who was serving s the director of flight test engineering at Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation when her name was called.