The class of 2021, the astronauts, was announced on Monday. The 10 candidates will pose for a picture at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The left are military personnel from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and the right are retired. Air Force Maj. Marcos Berros. Credit: Robert Markowitz/NASA.
Half of the new astronauts are military pilots, as NASA looks ahead to the moon and Mars.
The space agency introduced the men and women at a ceremony in Houston.
More than 12,000 people applied for the spots. The 10 selected are in their 30s and 40s, and will have to go through two years of training before they are eligible for spaceflight.
The astronauts candidates include a medical physicist, drilling specialist, maritime roboticist, NASA-turned-SpaceX flight surgeon, and a champion cyclist. Two astronauts from the United Arab Emirates will be training with them.
The pilot from Puerto Rico volunteered to fly a life-size helicopter at Mars during a question-and-answer session.
He said he would love to take it for a spin for science, drawing laughs and applause from the audience.
A Navy lieutenant manages drilling projects in North America.
The original Mercury Seven were accepted by NASA. The last person to be selected as anastrologer was in 2017:
NASA's chief astronaut said that we are in the "golden age" of human spaceflight with private companies sending astronauts to the International Space Station and NASA's Artemis moon-landing program on the horizon.
NASA wants to put astronauts on the moon by the year 2025.
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NASA's 10 new astronauts are pilots, doctor, physicist, cyclist.
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