NASA introduces its 12 new astronauts

Talk about the “right stuff.”

NASA on Wednesday named a dozen new astronauts — seven men and five women — selected from a record pool of more than 18,000 applicants, more than double the previous high of 8,000.

“You are the 12 who made it through, you have joined the elites, you are the best of us,” Vice President Mike Pence said during a ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston. "You carry on your shoulders the hopes and dreams of the American people."

NASA's diverse Class of 2017 includes six military officers, two of them doctors. It includes a marine biologist involved in Antarctic expeditions, a geologist who has worked with NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, and a SpaceX engineer who might ride a rocket and capsule he helped design.

“We do things because they are hard, and then we crush it,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Raja Chari, a 39-year-old test pilot from Iowa, when asked about the opportunity to fly a spaceship.

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The group ranges in age from 29 to 42 and hails from 10 states. Each member holds an advanced degree.

Families and VIP guests cheered as the astronaut candidates, as they will be called until completing a two-year training program, walked onto a stage wearing blue NASA flight suits.

Chari was joined by Kayla Barron, 29; Zena Cardman, 29; Matthew Dominick, 35; Bob Hines, 42; Warren "Woody" Hoburg, 31; Dr. Jonny Kim, 33; Robb Kulin, 33; Jasmin Moghbeli, 33; Loral O’Hara, 34; Dr. Francisco "Frank" Rubio, 41; and Jessica Watkins, 29.

The future astronauts might perform science research aboard the International Space Station, flying to the orbiting laboratory in Boeing Starliner or SpaceX Dragon capsules launching from Cape Canaveral, or in Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

They could be assigned to the first exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit since the last Apollo moon landing in 1972.

NASA in the early 2020s hopes to start launching crews from Kennedy Space Center in Orion capsules lifted by the Saturn V-class Space Launch System rocket. Astronauts will work in the area around the moon as a “proving ground” for eventual Mars missions.

That would be a dream come true for Moghbeli, who in sixth grade wrote a book report about the first woman in space, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963.

Moghbeli, of Baldwin, New York, said her experience as a Marine Corps major and helicopter test pilot had taught her to work outside her comfort zone, "pushed me to the point of failure, and taught me to get back up and to keep trying."

Houston native O'Hara's second grade class grew tomatoes from seeds flown on the space shuttle.

"Those early experiences really hooked me and are a big part of what ignited the dream to be an astronaut," she said. "A lot of our class shares that curiosity and excitement for exploring the world and going farther than anyone has gone before."

The 2017 astronaut class is NASA’s 22nd, nearly 60 years after the 1959 introduction of the Mercury Seven amid a space race with the Soviet Union.

To apply, applicants had to be a U.S. citizen, have a degree in a science, technology, engineering or math field and at least three years of related experience, or at least 1,000 hours piloting jet aircraft.

Starting last year, selection teams winnowed the field of 18,353 applicants to 120 and then 50 finalists. 

Last month Dominick, a Naval aviator sailing in the western Pacific Ocean aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, struggled to get a call through to NASA. But he finally learned he'd been offered the job.

"It was awesome," he said. "I couldn’t even get ‘yes’ out. I had goosebumps."

The new crop of astronauts are joining NASA as it continues a bumpy transition following the shuttle program’s retirement in 2011.

Six years later, the United States still needs Russia to get people to and from orbit. That reliance is expected to end next year when “commercial crew” systems being designed by Boeing and SpaceX start flying.

The first test flight of the SLS and Orion, without a crew, has slipped two years to 2019.

The Trump administration had hoped for an exciting exploration mission during its current four-year term, but has not yet signaled any major shifts in strategy or nominated a new leader for NASA.

Pence on Wednesday pledged support and confirmed he would lead a revived National Space Council, which will attempt to better coordinate NASA, military and commercial space programs.

“The United States will usher in a new era of space exploration that will benefit every facet of our national life,” said Pence.

The astronauts-in-training will report to Houston in August to begin studying space station systems, learning Russian and flying T-38 jets.

Kulin, once a commercial fisherman in Alaska who became leader of SpaceX's Launch Chief Engineering group in California, could one day be assigned to fly the company's Dragon spacecraft to the ISS.

"Hopefully one day I’ll actually fly on a vehicle that has components I designed," he said. "It’s been an incredible ride all around."

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdeanspace.