NASA Selects New Astronaut Recruits to Train for Future Missions

NASA has chosen 10 new astronaut candidates from a field of more than 12,000 applicants to represent the United States and work in space.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson introduced the members of the 2021 astronaut class, the first new class in four years, at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The astronaut candidates will report for duty at Johnson in January 2022 to begin two years of training. Astronaut candidate training falls into five major categories: operating and maintaining the International Space Station's complex systems, training for spacewalks, developing complex robotics skills, safely operating a T-38 training jet, and Russian language skills.

Upon completion, they could be assigned to missions that involve performing research aboard the space station, launching from American soil on spacecraft built by commercial companies, as well as deep space missions to destinations including the Moon on NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.

Applicants included U.S. citizens from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands. For the first time ever, NASA required candidates to hold a master’s degree in a STEM field and used an online assessment tool. The women and men selected for the new astronaut class represent the diversity of America and the career paths that can lead to a place in America’s astronaut corps.

The 2021 astronaut candidates are: Nichole Ayers, 32, major, U.S. Air Force; Marcos Berríos, 37, major, U.S. Air Force; Christina Birch, 35; Deniz Burnham, 36, lieutenant, U.S. Navy; Luke Delaney, 42, major, retired, U.S. Marine Corps; Andre Douglas, 35; Jack Hathaway, 39, commander, U.S. Navy; Anil Menon, 45, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force; Christopher Williams, 38; and Jessica Wittner, 38, lieutenant commander, U.S. Navy.

With the addition of these 10 members of the 2021 astronaut candidate class, NASA now has selected 360 astronauts since the original Mercury Seven in 1959.