NASA has selected 10 astronauts from 12 thousand applicants. Space Administrator Bill Nelson has presented selected candidates for Ellington Field near the Lyndon Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Astronauts will arrive at the center in January 2022 for two years of training. The training includes the operation and maintenance of the ISS systems, preparation for spacewalks, acquisition of robotics skills, training in the control of the T-38 aircraft and the Russian language.
Upon completion of the training, the astronauts will take part in flights to the ISS and into deep space , including to the Moon, on commercial ships and NASA vehicles.
The selection was carried out among candidates from 50 US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. For the first time, applicants were required to have a master's degree in STEM from an accredited university.
The list of astronauts from 2021 included Marcos Berrios, Christina Birch, Luc Delaney, Anil Menon, Jessica Wittner, Nicole Ayers, Denise Burnham, André Douglas, Jack Hathaway and Christopher Williams. Most of those selected have military experience and have served or are serving in the US Air Force and Navy. Burnham is a drilling engineer and Menon worked as a medic at SpaceX. Learn more about the specialists here.
In total, the space agency has selected 360 astronauts since 1959, including specialists who were introduced in 2021.
Johnson Center Director Vanessa Veech says that with new astronauts, NASA is once again getting closer to missions to the Moon and Mars.
Last month, Nelson announced that NASA was forced to postpone the landing of astronauts on the moon for a year, which was scheduled for 2025. The plans to deliver people to Earth's satellite in 2024 were announced in 2017 by the incumbent President of the United States, Donald Trump. The postponement of the date is due to technical capabilities. Less than a week later, Inspector General of the US Aeronautics and Space Administration Paul Martin announced a possible landing a few years after 2025.
Roscosmos RSC Energia presented a plan for a flight to the moon of Russian cosmonauts. The delivery of specialists will be preceded by four launches of the Angara-A5V rocket. The landing of astronauts is scheduled for 2030, they will spend about two weeks on the moon.
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