The latest class of astronaut candidates was introduced Monday at Johnson Space Center amid week of Artemis mission presentations.
HOUSTON, Texas — Among fewer than 400 individuals ever chosen to potentially explore space on America’s behalf, 10 more NASA astronaut candidates were introduced Monday.
“One of these 10 could be one of the first Americans to put their boots on the Mars surface, which is very, very cool,” said Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy.
Two native Texans are in the so-called “Astronaut Group 24.”
“I am so thrilled to be back home with the NASA family,” said Houston native Anna Menon.
Menon is a former SpaceX engineer, mission director and NASA biomedical flight controller.
“I grew up in Houston, Texas, and went to school at a number of HISD schools,” said Menon. “First, Barbara Bush Elementary, then Shadowbriar and Paul Revere middle schools, and finally Westside High School.”
Menon went to TCU before graduate school at Duke.
She and the others were selected from a pool of about 8,000 applicants and will now begin nearly two years of rigorous training before graduating as flight-eligible astronauts.
That will prepare them for potential missions to the ISS, the moon and eventually Mars as part of the ongoing Artemis program.
“My family’s very, very excited,” said Menon. “My family has known that I have loved space for many years and so they are, they’re behind me. And I’m really grateful to be on this journey hand in hand with them.”
Menon, a mother of two, is one of six women in the latest 10-person astronaut candidate group and hopes to inspire younger generations who may also have sky-high aspirations.
“I fell in love with space in the 4th grade,” said Menon.
Monday’s event was part of a series of activities over the next few days.
At some point, we’ll also get to catch up again with the Artemis II crew.
Those are the four people set to fly around the moon to test equipment and systems in a mission that’s been delayed at least twice.
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