2013 Astronaut Candidate Class
NASA Selects 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class
Introducing the 2013 Astronaut Class
Members of NASA's newest astronaut class pose with an Orion capsule at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013. Pictured back row, left to right: Tyler (Nick) Hague, Jessica Meir, Christina Hammock, Nicole Mann, Victor Glover. Picture front row, left to right: Andrew Morgan, Anne McClain, Josh Cassada.
Image Credit: NASA
After an extensive year-and-a-half search, NASA has a new group of potential astronauts who will help the agency push the boundaries of exploration and travel to new destinations in the solar system. Eight candidates have been selected to be NASA's newest astronaut trainees.
The 2013 astronaut candidate class comes from the second largest number of applications NASA ever has received -- more than 6,100. The group will receive a wide array of technical training at space centers around the globe to prepare for missions to low-Earth orbit, an asteroid and Mars.
"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," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "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."
The new astronaut candidates are:
Josh A. Cassada, Ph. D., 39, Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy, is originally from White Bear Lake, Minn. Cassada is a 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 previously served 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. Glover holds degrees from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Air University and Naval Postgraduate School. He currently is serving as a Navy Legislative Fellow in the U.S. Congress.
Tyler N. Hague (Nick), 37, Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force, calls Hoxie, Kan., home. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 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 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 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 (Calif.) 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 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 doctorate in 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.
The new astronaut candidates will begin training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in August.
"This year we have selected 8 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."
NASA Television’s Video File will include b-roll of astronaut interview sessions. For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit:
For more information about the International Space Station, visit:
For more information about astronaut selection and training, visit:
Next Generation of Explorers Takes the Stage
NASA, International Community United in Support of Bold Space Exploration Program
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Tuesday formally welcomed the eight newest candidates to the astronaut corps and unveiled a space exploration roadmap that makes clear the global community is working together on a unified deep space exploration strategic plan, with robotic and human missions to destinations that include near-Earth asteroids, the moon and Mars.
At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the members of the 2013 astronaut class spoke with reporters about their new roles and their desire to help the agency push the boundaries of exploration and travel to new destinations in the solar system. These next-generation American astronauts will be among those who will have the opportunity to fly on new commercial space transportation systems that are now under development. They also will be among those to plan and perhaps carry out the first-ever human missions to an asteroid and Mars.
"This class joins a distinguished and elite group of Americans who have carried out historic missions to the moon, deployed space telescopes and built an orbiting laboratory the size of a football field, where U.S. astronauts have continuously lived, worked and conducted research for more than a dozen years now," said Bolden. "They are being asked to carry on this extraordinary legacy and ensure the United States remains the world's leader in exploration and scientific discovery -- carrying with them America's hopes, dreams and curiosity deep into space, first to an asteroid and one day on to Mars."
The 2013 astronaut candidate class comes from a pool of 6,000 applicants, the second largest in NASA history. Half of the selectees are women, making this the highest percentage of female astronaut candidates ever selected for a single class. The group will participate in extensive technical training at space centers and remote locations around the world to prepare for missions beyond low-Earth orbit.
Bolden also spoke about the updated Global Exploration Roadmap (GER), released publicly Tuesday. The roadmap reflects the work of 12 space agencies of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group. It highlights the international space community's shared interest in pursuing deep space exploration and reflects the degree of international cooperation on a unified deep space exploration strategic roadmap.
The shared global vision, as laid out in the GER, includes:
-- an examination of the critical part the International Space Station plays in deep space exploration;
-- robotic and human missions to destinations that include near-Earth asteroids, the moon and Mars;
-- validation of the vital role of NASA's asteroid mission in advancing the capabilities needed to explore Mars and the economic and societal value such exploration can bring; and
-- a conceptual scenario that demonstrates how missions in the lunar vicinity, including NASA's asteroid initiative, pave the way for international missions to Mars in the 2030s, while enabling important discoveries along the way.
For more information about the astronaut candidates, their photos and details on the astronaut selection process, visit:
To view the Global Exploration Roadmap, visit:
For information about the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, visit:
For information about NASA and human exploration, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
