NASA Unveils New Astronaut Class for Deep-Space Exploration

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA Unveils New Astronaut Class for Deep-Space Exploration
By Clara Moskowitz | SPACE.com – 1 hr 39 mins ago...

NASA's new class of astronauts include a diverse group of people from a variety of backgrounds. Image Released June 17, 2013.

NASA has picked eight Americans, a mix of scientists and military pilots, to begin training for future space missions that may one day launch them all the way to Mars. The new class includes four men and four women who will join the 49 active astronauts at the agency's astronaut corps at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The new U.S. space travelers, which NASA unveiled today (June 17), could be part of the first crews to visit an asteroid or Mars, deep-space goals that NASA aims to explore. They could also be the first people to launch to space on a U.S.-built rocket since the era of the space shuttle, which ended in 2011.

In the nearer term, the new recruits could launch on Russian rockets to serve long-duration missions on the International Space Station, which is expected to operate until at least 2020. [7 Notable Space Shuttle Astronauts]

"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we're doing big, bold things here — developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "They're excited about the science we're doing on the International Space Station and our plan to launch from U.S. soil to there on spacecraft built by American companies. And they're ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars."

NASA will discuss its new astronaut recruits during a Google+ Hangout session today (June 17) at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT). You can watch the hangout live here on SPACE.com, or directly at: http://go.nasa.gov/126mOLK.

The new spaceflyer hopefuls were selected from more than 6,000 applications — the second largest applicant pool NASA's ever had. With the new class being evenly split between men and women, it represents the largest percentage of female astronaut candidates in any new class. [Women in Space: A Space History Gallery]

The last new cohort of NASA astronauts was selected in 2009, and included nine new candidates. They officially graduated in November 2011, but none have flown to space yet. Michael Hopkins will be the first of that group to fly when he launches in September to the International Space Station.

The new candidates, NASA's 21st astronaut class, will report to the Johnson Space Center for training in August.

"This year we have selected eight highly qualified individuals who have demonstrated impressive strengths academically, operationally and physically," said Janet Kavandi, director of Flight Crew Operations at Johnson Space Center. "They have diverse backgrounds and skill sets that will contribute greatly to the existing astronaut corps. Based on their incredible experiences to date, I have every confidence that they will apply their combined expertise and talents to achieve great things for NASA and this country in the pursuit of human exploration."



The new candidates, as described by NASA, are:

•Josh A. Cassada, Ph.D., 39, is originally from White Bear Lake, Minn. Cassada is a former naval aviator who holds an undergraduate degree from Albion College, and advanced degrees from the University of Rochester, N.Y. Cassada is a physicist by training and currently is serving as co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum Opus.
 
•Victor J. Glover, 37, Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy, hails from Pomona, Calif., and Prosper, Texas. He is an F/A-18 pilot and graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards, Calif. Glover holds degrees from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Air University and the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. He currently is serving as a Navy Legislative Fellow in the U.S. Congress.
 
•Tyler N. (Nick) Hague, 37, Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force, calls Hoxie, Kan., home. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards, Calif. Hague currently is supporting the Department of Defense as Deputy Chief of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.
 
•Christina M. Hammock, 34, calls Jacksonville, N.C., home. Hammock holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. She currently is serving as National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Station Chief in American Samoa.
 
•Nicole Aunapu Mann, 35, Major, U.S. Marine Corps, originally is from Penngrove, Calif. She is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Stanford University and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Md. Mann is an F/A 18 pilot, currently serving as an Integrated Product Team Lead at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Patuxent River.
 
•Anne C. McClain, 34, Major, U.S. Army, lists her hometown as Spokane, Wash. She is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.; the University of Bath and the University of Bristol, both in the United Kingdom. McClain is an OH-58 helicopter pilot, and a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station, Patuxent River.
 
•Jessica U. Meir, Ph.D., 35, is from Caribou, Maine. She is a graduate of Brown University, has an advanced degree from the International Space University, and earned her doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Meir currently is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
 
•Andrew R. Morgan, M.D., 37, Major, U.S. Army, considers New Castle, Pa., home. Morgan is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and earned a doctorate of medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md. He has experience as an emergency physician and flight surgeon for the Army special operations community, and currently is completing a sports medicine fellowship.
 

NASA's astronaut corps began in 1959 with the announcement of the first seven astronauts, the Mercury Seven, who flew on the first U.S. space missions.

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-unveils-astronaut-class-deep-space-exploration-151231913.html

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women, including 1st female fighter pilot in years
By Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer | Associated Press – 6 hrs ago...


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA has eight new astronauts — its first new batch in four years.

Among the lucky candidates: the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut in nearly two decades. A female helicopter pilot also is in the group. In fact, four of the eight are women, the highest percentage of female astronaut candidates ever selected by NASA.

Monday's announcement came on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the launch of the first American woman in space, Sally Ride. She died last summer.

The eight — all in their 30s — were chosen from more than 6,000 applications received early last year, the second largest number ever received. They will report for duty in August at Johnson Space Center in Houston and join 49 astronauts currently at NASA. The number has dwindled ever since the space shuttles stopped flying in 2011. Many astronauts quit rather than get in a lengthy line for relatively few slots for long-term missions aboard the International Space Station.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said these new candidates will help lead the first human mission to an asteroid in the 2020s, and then Mars, sometime in the following decade. They also may be among the first to fly to the space station aboard commercial spacecraft launched from the U.S., he noted. Russia ferries the astronauts now.

"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we're doing big, bold things here — developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," Bolden said in a statement.

The Class of 2013's Nicole Aunapu Mann, a major in the Marines, is an F/A 18 pilot serving at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Md. Army Maj. Anne McClain is a helicopter pilot. The two other women, Christina Hammock and Jessica Meir, are scientists.

All four men have military backgrounds, including one who is a former emergency room physician, Dr. Andrew Morgan. The others are Josh Cassada, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Victor Glover and Air Force Lt. Col. Tyler (Nick) Hague.

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-picks-8-astronauts-4-120500081.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Astronaut 'I Scream': New NASA Astronaut Candidates Excited to Be Chosen
SPACE.comBy Robert Z. Pearlman | SPACE.com – 24 mins ago...

NASA new astronaut candidates (from top left to bottom right): Josh Cassada, Victor Glover, Tyler “Nick” Hague, Christina Hammock, Nicole Mann, Anne McClain, Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan.

 
Ann McClain's mother was in her front yard rose garden when her daughter called with the news.

"You'll never forget this moment," McClain, a 34-year-old major in the U.S. Army told her mom. "I've been selected as an astronaut candidate."

Her mother's response, to scream so loud that McClain's stepfather ran out of the house thinking his wife had just injured herself, was rivaled only by McClain's.

"She sounded like she had the same reaction as I did," McClain recalled in a video interview released by NASA.

McClain and seven others were announced Monday (June 17) as the United States' 21st class of NASA astronaut candidates ("ascans"). The four men and four women will report to the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston in August to begin two years of basic training.

Victor Glover, a 37-year-old lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy pinched himself after getting the call to report for NASA astronaut training. Currently assigned as a Navy Legislative Fellow in the U.S. Congress, he and his wife, Janet, had been waiting for word as to where he would be going next.

"I called her and I was able to tell her that now we know where we are going, it will be to Houston," he said. "And she was ecstatic."

Tyler "Nick" Hague hadn't yet told his parents, but knew they would be excited. His brothers' reaction? Well, that was bound to be different.

"My brothers, as they always do, will give me a hard time and tell me the challenges ahead in the training program," said Hague, a 37-year-old lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force and the current deputy chief of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. "But everybody is going to be excited."
Exciting exploration

Other than being thrilled for their selection — the ascans were chosen from among more than 6,000 applicants, the second largest turn out in NASA's history — the eight new candidates said they were really excited at the prospect of contributing to humanity's exploration efforts.

"I'm really excited about being a part of something much bigger than me and working alongside some of the world's best minds, who, thankfully for us, feel the same about being a part of something much bigger than them," said Josh Casada, 39, a high-energy particle physicist and a former naval aviator.

"From my perspective, exploration is the foundation of the human spirit, whether that exploration is at the subatomic level or on the nano scale or even the cosmic scale," Casada added. "I think if society is not exploring, we are really just kind of sustaining, and to be able to contribute to that exploration in any small way is really exciting."

Glover expressed similar sentiments, stating he is excited to be a "part of kindling America's passion for aerospace and space."

"There is something special about flying, and especially flying in space, that it just draws people's fascinations and passions," he said. "Being a part of that is the thing that I think excites me the most."

NASA recruited this class, its first trainees in four years, to prepare for flights to the International Space Station, as well as future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

"I really look forward to being able to directly contribute to the human spaceflight program," said Christina Hammock, 34, who serves as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) station chief in American Samoa. "I really strongly believe in both the practical aspects of the research being conducted, as well as the larger picture of the human spaceflight program bringing us forward as a human race and uniting us in exploring the universe."


Looking forward

Before they can hope to launch into space though, the candidates will need to first pass basic training. Over the next two months, the eight ascans will need to relocate to Houston, where they will soon join the NASA community at Johnson Space Center.

"I am really looking forward to the people down at NASA and working for that really great organization," 35-year-old Nicole Mann, a major in the Marine Corps, said. "I've had the opportunity to go down [to Johnson Space Center] a couple of times for a visit and really it is just the energy and the excitement."

"The professionals there and our international partners — everybody working towards a common mission, towards science, exploration and that goal of all of humankind — I'm looking forward to being a part of that very important team," she said.

Andrew Morgan, a 37-year-old emergency physician and flight surgeon, shares Mann's admiration for the people at NASA.

"I definitely felt drawn to being surrounded by the people I have encountered at NASA and being part of the astronaut office and being part of the astronaut corps," Morgan said. "It was just a tremendously talented group of people — and to be a part of that, I knew that would be something special."

Jessica Meir said she too, was excited to be part of the NASA team, but was also looking forward to the training she and her seven ascans will soon begin.

"I have my private pilot's license but I am really excited about going to Pensacola [Fla.] for real flight training in jets. That is something that will be really, really incredible for me," the 35-year-old assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School in Boston said.

"I am also looking forward to the international component. I really enjoy studying foreign languages and cultures, and so the emergence in the Russian culture and society that we will have as part of the International Space Station and the other international partners as well, I am really looking forward to that."

http://news.yahoo.com/astronaut-scream-nasa-astronaut-candidates-excited-chosen-182803934.html