For the first time in the history of American astronautics, there were more women than men among the selected candidates. All of them, among other things, will have to learn Russian to work on the International Space Station, but in fact few of this team will have time to visit it: the ISS program is nearing completion. So NASA is setting up new astronauts to prepare for interplanetary expeditions.
The first manned flyby of the Moon under the new American space program Artemis is scheduled for the first half of 2026. There are four astronauts in the crew. Gregory Reed Wiseman and Victor Glover previously flew to the ISS, and for Canadian Jeremy Hansen, a flight to the moon will be the first space flight in his life. The most outstanding astronaut on this team is Kristina Koch, who has spent 328 days in orbit and six spacewalks. She is considered one of the main candidates for the role of the first woman on the moon.
The landing is currently planned for 2027, the crew has not yet been announced. In any case, it is absolutely clear that NASA needs people who are ready for interplanetary flight. This means more serious requirements than when selecting astronauts to work in low-Earth orbit.
Meanwhile, the International Space Station is going to be flooded in the coming years. According to current plans, in 2031, its modules burned out in the atmosphere will fall into the Pacific Ocean. However, NASA plans to build a commercial orbital station to continue research in microgravity, but this no longer looks like a priority.
In this context, it is interesting to consider the prospects for the newly announced new set of NASA astronaut candidates. There are 10 of them. Everyone now still has to complete two years of training. That is, they will be ready for flight in 2027. This means that most of them will not have time to visit the ISS. Nevertheless, according to published data, they will still learn Russian.
Interestingly, one of these candidates already has a unique space flight experience: 39-year-old Anna Menon climbed to an altitude of 1,400 kilometers in August 2024 as part of the crew of the Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the Polaris Dawn mission. For comparison, the ISS holds an altitude of 400 and a little kilometers. A higher altitude means a more serious level of radiation, and this allows us to collect a lot of useful information for future long-term lunar and Martian missions.
In general, there are six women in this set, which was especially noted at the meeting on the occasion of their presentation. For the first time in the history of astronautics, there were more women than men among the selected candidates. Of course, these are extraordinary women: for example, 43-year-old Catherine Spice and 34—year-old Erin Overcash are combat pilots. Catherine is an attack helicopter pilot, participant in operations in the Middle East and in The Asia-Pacific region. Erin is an experienced pilot of supersonic F/A—18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters. 38-year-old Rebecca Lawler is a test pilot who has flown more than 45 aircraft.
Lauren Edgar, a 40—year-old geologist from the California Institute of Technology, participated in determining the scientific goals of the Artemis III mission, that is, the very first moon landing since the time of the Apollo missions. Finally, 34-year—old Imelda Muller, a lieutenant in the US Navy and a doctor, a specialist in behavioral neuroscience, provided medical assistance during diving training at the NASA laboratory.
As for the men's part of this team, 38-year-old Ben Bailey, 35-year—old Adam Furmann and 35-year-old Cameron Jones are also military pilots. The only exception was Yuri Kubo, 40, who worked at SpaceX for 12 years, including as director of Falcon 9 rocket launches.
As the acting head of NASA, Sean Duffy, said, one of these people may be the first person on Mars.
Adele Romanova
