NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women

AAA??Jun. 17, 2013?5:20 PM ET
NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women
By MARCIA DUNN??By MARCIA DUNN

This photo provided by NASA shows Nicole Aunapu Mann. NASA has eight new astronauts _ its first new batch in four years. Mann is one of the candidates. 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. (AP Photo/NASA)

This photo provided by NASA shows Nicole Aunapu Mann. NASA has eight new astronauts _ its first new batch in four years. Mann is one of the candidates. 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. (AP Photo/NASA)

This photo provided by NASA shows Anne C. McClain. NASA has eight new astronauts _ its first new batch in four years. McClain is one of the candidates. 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. (AP Photo/NASA)

This photo provided by NASA shows Andrew R. Morgan. NASA has eight new astronauts _ its first new batch in four years. Morgan, a medical doctor, 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. (AP Photo/NASA)

This photo provided by NASA shows Christina M. Hammock. NASA has eight new astronauts _ its first new batch in four years. Hammock is one of the candidates. Hammock, 34, calls Jacksonville, N.C. home. Hammock holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, N.C. She currently is serving as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Station Chief in American Samoa. (AP Photo/NASA)

This photo provided by NASA shows Tyler N. "Nick" Hague. NASA has eight new astronauts _ its first new batch in four years. Hague, 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. (AP Photo/NASA)

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.

___

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/2013astroclass.html

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-06-17-New%20Astronauts/id-8530f6fe58dc43c2bf6db48f65c866b4

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