nasa 12

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-new-astronauts/

Looking ahead to a new era of exploration in low-Earth orbit and beyond, NASA named 12 new astronauts Wednesday, five women and seven men selected from a record pool of more than 18,300 applicants.

The new astronaut candidates are:

-- Kayla Barron, hometown: Richland, Washington; current residence: Annapolis, Maryland; U.S. Naval Academy graduate, master's in nuclear engineering from the University of Cambridge, England; currently serves as Flag Aide for the Superintendent of the Naval Academy

-- Zena Cardman, Williamsburg, Virginia; current residence: State College, Pennsylvania; National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow with a master's degree in marine science; currently completing a doctorate in geoscience at Pennsylvania State University

-- Air Force Lt. Col. Raja Chari, Cedar Falls, Iowa; current residence: Lancaster, California; U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, U.S. Navy test pilot school graduate; master's in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron

-- Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Dominick, Wheat Ridge, Colorado; current residence: stationed in Japan; Navy test pilot school, master's in systems engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School; Navy strike flighter squadron 115

-- Bob Hines, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; current residence: Houston; NASA research pilot at the Johnson Space Center; U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School graduate; master's in aerospace engineering from the University of Alabama

-- Warren "Woody" Hoburg, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; current residence: Boston; assistant professor in aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California-Berkeley

-- Jonathan Kim, Los Angeles, California; current residence: Newtron, Massachusetts; resident physician for Partners Healthcare at Massachusetts General Hospital; active duty reserve with the U.S. Navy; doctorate of medicine from Harvard

-- Robb Kulin, Anchorage, Alaska; current residence: Redondo Beach, California; senior manager for flight reliability at SpaceX; masters in materials science; Ph.D. in engineering from the University of California-San Diego

--Marine Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli, Baldwin, New York; current residence: Yuma, Arizona; quality assurance and avionics officer; master's in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School; graduate of the U.S. Navy Test Pilot school

-- Loral O'Hara, Sugar Land, Texas; current residence: Woods Hole, Massachusetts; research engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; master's degree in propulsion and fluid Dynamics from Purdue University

-- U.S. Army Maj. Francisco Rubio, Miami, Florida; current residence: Colorado Springs, Colorado; surgeon for the 3rd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (airborne); U.S. Military Academy graduate; doctorate of medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

-- Jessica Watkins, Lafayette, Colorado; current residence: Pasadena, California; post-doctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology; Ph.D. in geology from the University of California-Los Angeles

NASA plans to operate the International Space Station through at least 2024. Astronauts currently fly to and from the station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft, but Boeing and SpaceX are both building new U.S. ferry craft for NASA that are expected to begin flying next year.