{"id":18927,"date":"2017-06-07T18:36:04","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T10:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-introduces-a-dozen-new-astronauts-with-vice-president-mike-pences-blessing\/"},"modified":"2017-06-07T18:36:04","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T10:36:04","slug":"nasa-introduces-a-dozen-new-astronauts-with-vice-president-mike-pences-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-introduces-a-dozen-new-astronauts-with-vice-president-mike-pences-blessing\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA introduces a dozen new astronauts with Vice President Mike Pence\u2019s blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_337824\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-337824\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-337824\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170607-astronaut-1-630x373.jpg\" alt=\"Pence and NASA astronaut candidates\" width=\"630\" height=\"373\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170607-astronaut-1-630x373.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170607-astronaut-1-768x455.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170607-astronaut-1-1260x747.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/170607-astronaut-1.jpg 1541w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-337824\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vice President Mike Pence addresses NASA\u2019s newly named astronaut candidates. (NASA via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>More than 18,300 people applied to be part of NASA\u2019s astronaut corps, and today NASA unveiled this year\u2019s class of seven men and five women.<\/p>\n<p>The Class of 2017\u2019s astronaut candidates include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Kayla Barron<\/strong> of Richland, Wash.,&nbsp;a Navy lieutenant and nuclear engineer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Zena Cardman<\/strong> of Williamsburg, Va., a marine scientist who has participated in NASA analog missions and is now a researcher at Penn State.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Raja Chari<\/strong> of&nbsp;Cedar Falls, Iowa, an Air Force colonel and astronautical engineer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Matthew Dominick<\/strong> of&nbsp;Wheat Ridge, Colo.,&nbsp;an electrical and systems engineer and lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bob Hines<\/strong> of&nbsp;Harrisburg, Pa., an aerospace engineer and research pilot for Johnson Space Center.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Warren (Woody) Hoburg<\/strong> of&nbsp;Pittsburgh, an electrical engineer and MIT professor.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jonny Kim<\/strong> of&nbsp;Los Angeles, a physician and former Navy SEAL.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Robb Kulin<\/strong> of&nbsp;Anchorage, Alaska, a mechanical engineer and SpaceX launch chief engineer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jasmin Moghbeli<\/strong> of&nbsp;Baldwin, N.Y., an aerospace engineer and avionics officer for the Marine Corps.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Loral O\u2019Hara<\/strong> of&nbsp;Houston, a&nbsp;research engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Frank Rubio<\/strong> of&nbsp;Miami, a physician and&nbsp;battalion surgeon for the U.S. Army.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jessica Watkins<\/strong> of&nbsp;Lafayette, Colo., a geologist at Caltech.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Barron is the only candidate who considers the Evergreen State her home. Kulin will be the first astronaut coming to NASA from SpaceX. And Watkins has been part of the team for NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover mission on Mars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe intend to send her to Mars one day, folks,\u201d Brian Kelly, director of flight operations at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center, said when he introduced Watkins. For more about the Class of 2017, check out NASA\u2019s biographies.<\/p>\n<p>Vice President Mike Pence joined NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other dignitaries in welcoming the new astronaut class at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t tell you how privileged and honored I feel today to be able to congratulate the newest class of American heroes \u2014 the 2017 class of America\u2019s astronauts,\u201d Pence&nbsp;said. \u201cThese are 12 men and women whose personal excellence, whose personal courage will carry our nation to even greater heights of discovery, and who I know will inspire our children and our grandchildren every bit as much as your forebears have done so in this storied American program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"NASA\u2019s New Astronauts to Conduct Research Off the Earth, For the Earth and Deep Space Missions\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LuXYPj6fIj8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Pence took the occasion to pass along congratulations from President Donald Trump, who he said was \u201cfirmly committed to NASA\u2019s mission: leading America in space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The vice president noted that he\u2019ll be chairing a National Space Council to advise the president on space policy. \u201cNASA will have the resources and support you need to continue to make history,\u201d he promised.<\/p>\n<p>Pence said he\u2019d be spending part of his birthday&nbsp;touring Mission Control and listening to briefings about human spaceflight operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGodspeed to the Class of 2017,\u201d Pence said. \u201cMay God guide you and bless you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Class of 2017\u2019s selection opens the way for a&nbsp;two- to three-year astronaut training period that begins in August.<\/p>\n<p>As they learn the ropes, the candidates will go through survival training, get familiar with the ins and outs of the International Space Station and learn to speak Russian.<\/p>\n<p>The astronauts will prepare for flights aboard Russia\u2019s Soyuz spacecraft, the commercial space taxis being developed by SpaceX and Boeing, and&nbsp;NASA\u2019s Orion deep-space exploration spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOrion will be capable of carrying astronauts on diverse expeditions beyond Earth\u2019s orbit \u2013 ushering in a new era of human space exploration,\u201d NASA said in a post.<\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s exploration plans are in a state of flux, due in part to the changes in the White House, but the Trump administration is reportedly settling on a timetable that would send astronauts to the vicinity of the moon in the 2020s, and to Mars and its moons in the 2030s.<\/p>\n<p>If that schedule holds, at least some of the members of the Class of 2017 are likely to go on those deep-space journeys.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Meet America\u2019s New Astronauts\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5Yu1uOB2-_E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>NASA selects a new class of astronauts every three to five years. The dozen new astronauts were chosen after more than a year of vetting.<\/p>\n<p>Like most federal agencies, NASA requires job applicants to be U.S. citizens. Beyond that, the space agency wants applicants to have at least a bachelor\u2019s degree in engineering, the physical sciences or related fields, plus at least three years of on-the-job experience \u2014 which could be subbed out if they have 1,000 hours of piloting jet aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>Applicants should be ready to pass the physical exam as well. They should have good blood pressure, stand between 5-foot-2 inches and 6-foot-3 and have 20\/20 vision, although if you\u2019re not blessed with perfect vision, NASA says it\u2019s OK to get laser eye surgery.<\/p>\n<p>NASA says an astronaut\u2019s salary starts at more than $66,000 a year and can range upward to nearly&nbsp;$145,000 based on experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vice President Mike Pence addresses NASA\u2019s newly named astronaut candidates. (NASA via YouTube) More than 18,300 people applied to be part of NASA\u2019s astronaut corps, and today NASA unveiled this year\u2019s class of seven men and five women. The Class of 2017\u2019s astronaut candidates include: Kayla Barron of Richland, Wash.,&nbsp;a Navy lieutenant and nuclear engineer. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1668,190],"class_list":["post-18927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astronauts","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}