2-Year Candidate Training Began Immediately

NASA introduced 10 astronaut candidates for its class of 2025 on September 22, after a competitive selection process that garnered 8,000 applications from across the U.S. The class immediately began their training for the next two years and when completed will be fully qualified for flight assignments in space.

Sean P. Duffy, Acting NASA Administrator, welcomed the new class in a ceremony at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. He said, “I’m honored to welcome the next generation of American explorers to our agency! More than 8,000 people applied – scientists, pilots, engineers, dreamers from every corner of this nation. The 10 men and women sitting here today embody the truth that in America, regardless of where you start, there is no limit to what a determined dreamer can achieve – even going to space. Together, we’ll unlock the Golden Age of exploration.”

This is NASA’s 24th astronaut class. They reported for duty at JSC in mid-September and jumped right into their training program.

The curriculum covers a wide range of skills for operations on board the International Space Station, Artemis Moon missions, and more. They will receive training in land and water survival, geology, foreign languages, space medicine and physiology, robotics, simulated spacewalks, and flying high-performance jet aircraft.

The 2025 astronaut candidates are:

CW3 Ben Bailey, 38, U.S. Army, from Charlottesville, Virginia. U.S. Naval Test Pilot School graduate, developing emerging technologies on Army UH_60 Black Hawk and CH-47F Chinook helicopters.

Lauren Edgar, 40, Deputy Principal Investigator for the Artemis III Geology Team, under the U.S. Geological Survey. Hails from Sammamish, Washington.

Maj. Adam Fuhrmann, 35, U.S. Air Force, from Leesburg, Virginia. U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School graduate, F-16 and F-35 pilot, director of operations for Air Force flight test unit.

Maj. Cameron Jones, 35, U.S. Air Force, of Savanna, Illinois. U.S. Graduate of Air Force Test Pilot School and Air Force Weapons School, F-22 Raptor pilot, Academic Fellow at DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Yuri Kubo, 40, from Columbus, Indiana. Co-op student at NASA Johnson, former launch director at SpaceX, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Electric Hydrogen.

Rebecca Lawler, 38, of Little Elm, Texas. Former Lt. Cdr., U.S. Navy. P-3 pilot, experimental test pilot, NOAA hurricane hunter pilot, test pilot for United Airlines.

Anna Menon, 39, from Houston, Texas. Senior engineer at SpaceX, former Mission Control Specialist at NASA Johnson.

Imelda Muller, 34, of Copake Falls, New York. Former Lt., U.S. Navy, Undersea Medical Officer at Naval Undersea Medical Institute.

Lt. Cdr. Erin Overcash, 34, U.S. Navy, from Goshen, Kentucky. U.S. Naval Test Pilot, F/A-18 E/F pilot with multiple deployments and 249 carrier landings.

Katherine Spies, 43, of San Diego, California. Former U.S. Marine Corps AH-1 attack helicopter pilot and U.S. Naval Test Pilot graduate.

FMI:  www.nasa.gov/