Houston, Texas – Johnson Space Center welcomed 12 astronauts (10 Americans and two from the United Arab Emirates) who completed a two-year training program through NASA.
These astronauts will be assigned missions on the International Space Station and future commercial space stations, and will also focus on missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars.
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Major Luke Delaney of DeBary, Fla., said graduating from the program is a dream, and one that some people spend decades achieving.
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Ten American astronauts and two UAE astronauts recently graduated from two years of training through NASA. (NASA/Robert Markowitz)
When he put on the spacesuit, Delaney said he felt “accomplished.”
“When you put it on and go into the water for the first time, it’s emotional. In a way, it feels like a success,” he said.
The class, made up of scientists, doctors, engineers and researchers, was chosen two years ago from more than 12,000 applicants.
After passing, they moved to Houston and continue to train physically and mentally for their first space flight.
The 2024 NASA astronauts were selected from 12,000 applicants and moved to Houston to train for their next mission. (NASA/Robert Markowitz)
U.S. Navy Commander Jack Hathaway, a native of South Windsor, Connecticut, described the different types of training astronauts received as part of their training program.
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“We learned about the space station’s systems. We learned to speak a little Russian. We learned how to fly a T-38. We had spacesuit training in the neutral buoyancy laboratory. And… “I learned how to operate the Canada Arm, which is the robotic arm that’s now on the space station,” Hathaway said.
Astronauts in 2024 completed their training in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.
Hathaway expressed excitement about all the opportunities available to astronauts and asserted, “There really aren’t any bad jobs in the astronaut office.”
“There’s a lot of things in front of us right now, whether it’s the Starliner flight or the Dragon flight, working on development programs and taking into account what’s going on at the space station right now. Things like working on current operations,” Hathaway said.
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Although they won’t be jumping on a plane right away, the new astronauts are ready to leave this world.
“The science we’re doing on the International Space Station, you can’t do science like that anywhere else in the universe. We’re learning about medicine and the human body. Space teaches us what we’re doing. It gives us a laboratory to do research that we don’t have here on Earth,” said Chris Williams, a medical physicist in Boston.
Astronauts complete two years of training in a NASA laboratory before graduating from the program. (NASA/Robert Markowitz)
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Johnson, Space Center director, said it will be at least a year before new astronauts can fly their first missions.
Applications for the next astronaut are currently being accepted.
