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There are many people in this picture, from left to right: Christina Birch, Marcos Berros, Nichole Ayers, Christopher Williams, and Jessica Wittner.
The image is from NASA.
The astronauts were chosen from more than 12,000 people who applied to the space agency in March of 2020. Once they become full astronauts, these selectees have some exciting spaceflight opportunities ahead of them, including flights to the Moon someday.
The astronauts are part of the Artemis Generation. The name is a reference to NASA's Artemis program, which aims to send the first woman and the first person of color to the moon as early as 2025. The program calls for NASA to launch astronauts on a series of flights into deep space on the Space Launch System, or SLS, which will lead to humans landing on the Moon again.
The director of NASA's Johnson Space Center said during a presentation that the astronauts will plan, train, and fly missions to the International Space Station and to the moon under Artemis.
The Apollo generation did so much for so many. It is the Artemis generation.
The flights are still up for grabs because NASA has yet to assign crews to any of the Artemis missions. In December of 2020, NASA revealed the Artemis Team, 18 astronauts who could potentially be selected to fly on Artemis missions. The candidates selected today will join the pool that NASA chooses from. NASA flies astronauts to and from the International Space Station on Crew Dragon, the same type of spaceship that is used for lunar missions. When it is deemed ready, Boeing's Starliner will also take astronauts to the International Space Station.
New recruits have to train. The astronauts will go through two years of training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, which includes flying in the agency's fleet of T-38 jet aircraft, spacewalk training, and more. They will eventually become full astronauts if that goes well.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson welcomed 10 new explorers during the ceremony. The Apollo generation did so much for so many. It is the Artemis generation.
The new class of astronauts.
The person is Nichole Ayers.
Marcos Berros is a person.
Christina Birch.
The person is Deniz Burnham.
There is a person named Luke Delaney.
The man is named Andre Douglas.
Jack Hathaway.
The man is Anil Menon.
Christopher Williams is a person.
Jessica Wittner is a person.
The group has a lot of military experience with many members currently or formerly in the US Air Force and Navy. Menon was recently working as a medical officer at SpaceX, while Burnham was a drilling engineer from Alaska. According to NASA, she is one of the few women currently flying the F-22 for the Air Force, and she led the first ever all-woman formation of the aircraft in combat. Here you can learn more about the astronauts.
To be considered for a NASA job, candidates must have a master's degree in a field related to science, technology, engineering and math. To be considered, applicants must have at least 1,000 hours of piloting a jet aircraft or three years of experience in a field related to science, technology, engineering and math. Before being considered, the finalist must pass a NASA physical.
