Editors note: NASA on Monday revealed the 10 most recent astronauts to join its area corps in an event at Ellington Field in Houston near NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. You can view a replay of the statement above. Our full story on the announcement will be published shortly. In the meantime, NASAs new astronaut class consists of 4 females and six males. They are: Nichole Ayers, 32, significant, U.S. Air Force, of Colorado; Marcos Berríos, 37, significant, U.S. Air Forceof Guaynabo, Puerto Rico; Christina Birch, 35, biochemist, of Gilbert, Arizona; Deniz Burnham, 36, lieutenant, U.S. Navy, of Wasilla, Alaska; Luke Delaney, 42, major, retired, U.S. Marine Corps, of Debary, Florida; Andre Douglas, 35, mechanical/electrical/computer engineer, of Virginia; Jack Hathaway, 39, leader, U.S. Navy, of Connecticut; Anil Menon, 45, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Christopher Williams, 38, physicist, of Potomac, Maryland; Jessica Wittner, 38, lieutenant commander, U.S. Navy, of California.NASA revealed its 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class on Dec. 6, 2021. The 10 prospects, visualized here at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston are: U.S. Air Force Maj. Nichole Ayers, Christopher Williams, U.S. Marine Corps Maj. (retired.) Luke Delaney, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jessica Wittner, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Anil Menon, U.S. Air Force Maj. Marcos Berríos, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Jack Hathaway, Christina Birch, U.S. Navy Lt. Deniz Burnham, and Andre Douglas. (Image credit: NASA) NASA is ready to reveal its next batch of astronaut candidates, and you can watch the occasion live.The company will announce the 2021 astronaut class today (Nov. 6) at 12:30 p.m. EST (0530 GMT). The event will run live on NASA Television, NASA social media channels, the NASA app and also here at Space.com.More than 12,000 U.S. residents applied in 2020 to become an astronaut of the “Artemis Generation”, or what NASA has termed the astronauts anticipated to take part in the Artemis program for moon missions and the planned lunar Gateway space station. Moonbound astronauts will fly on the Orion spacecraft and Deep Space Launch system that will have their very first uncrewed moon objective together no earlier than February 2022. The very first Artemis crewed objective (in lunar orbit) is expected in 2024 and the first landing objective in 2025. Existing firm astronauts termed the “Artemis Team” will get those very first seats, though, along with an unidentified Canadian who will fly on the 2024 Artemis II orbital objective under an agreement with the Canadian Space Agency.Related: How To Become An AstronautThe 2021 astronaut class could be amongst the team members of Artemis moon missions, NASA states. (Image credit: NASA) While the brand-new class would be eligible for Artemis projects eventually, its unclear if they will reach the International Space Station– despite the fact that NASAs statement says the brand-new astronaut prospects would get approved for complete astronaut status and flight task to the orbiting complex after 2 years of training. Considering that the brand-new class would get flight assignments no earlier than 2024, that pegs the timing in the exact same year as the present retirement date for the ISS. Even after being designated to a flight, the astronauts objective training would take another couple of years– implying the earliest the new class might get to the orbiting complex would be around 2026. That stated, NASA hopes to extend the ISS retirement date to 2028 or perhaps 2030, and just exposed a bunch of commercial spaceport station creates that the 2021 class may one day see in the coming years or so.Related: How NASAs Artemis moon landing with astronauts worksThe brand-new astronaut candidates will report to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston in January 2022, where they will start their two-year qualification cycle in elements such as the Russian language, spacewalking abilities, teamwork in isolated conditions, piloting high-performance airplane and discovering spacecraft systems.NASAs last astronaut class of 2017, nicknamed the Turtles, included 12 U.S. individuals divided pretty uniformly amongst male and female candidates; a number of international astronaut candidates likewise joined their respective nations corps at that time. The graduation ceremony for the Turtles occurred in January 2020, minus NASA astronaut prospect Robb Kulin, who resigned partway through the training.Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..
(Image credit: NASA) NASA is prepared to reveal its next batch of astronaut candidates, and you can watch the event live.The firm will announce the 2021 astronaut class today (Nov. 6) at 12:30 p.m. EST (0530 GMT). The occasion will run live on NASA Television, NASA social media channels, the NASA app and likewise here at Space.com.More than 12,000 U.S. citizens applied in 2020 to end up being an astronaut of the “Artemis Generation”, or what NASA has described the astronauts anticipated to take part in the Artemis program for moon objectives and the prepared lunar Gateway space station. Existing firm astronauts described the “Artemis Team” will get those first seats, however, along with an unidentified Canadian who will fly on the 2024 Artemis II orbital mission under a contract with the Canadian Space Agency.Related: How To Become An AstronautThe 2021 astronaut class could be among the team members of Artemis moon missions, NASA states.
