After a three-year hiatus: NASA opens an astronaut class. The destination - deep space

Currently, NASA employs 48 active astronauts, about a third of the size of the unit at its peak in the heyday of the space shuttles.

On Monday this week, NASA presented eight new candidates for astronauts - four women and four men who will "help the agency push the boundaries of space exploration and fly to new destinations in the solar system." The space agency announced.
This is the first class to be opened in three years and the 21st overall in the 55-year history of space travel," says NASA Assistant Administrator Lori Garber. "From a record number of applicants - over 6,100, we selected a particularly outstanding class that represents a high level of achievement and a desire to invest for the future of our nation."

This is also the highest rate of female candidates selected for the astronaut class. According to Janet Kavandi, a former astronaut and manager of manned flight operations at NASA, says that this is not due to an arbitrary decision, but the eight most suitable were really selected from among those interviewed. "This is an amazing group of people," she said.
Currently, NASA employs 48 active astronauts, about a third of the size of the unit at its peak in the heyday of the space shuttles.

"With fewer astronauts and fewer office workers, we require each person to have the most diverse background possible." Kabandi says. "Therefore, we tried to ensure that the eight people would have a wide range of experience and I believe that this can be seen from their skills."

NASA says that the astronauts will receive a wide range of technological training to prepare themselves for missions in orbit around the Earth, or flights to asteroids and even to Mars.

"These astronauts asked to join NASA because they know we are doing strong and brave things and developing missions that will fly farther into space than ever before." said NASA chief Charles Bolden. "They are excited about our scientific achievements on the International Space Station and our plan to launch astronauts from US soil again in a spacecraft that will be built by American companies" and they want to help us lead a manned mission to an asteroid and then to Mars"

The candidates are:

• Dr. Josh Casada, 39, originally from Minnesota, is a former Navy pilot and holds advanced degrees from the University of Rochester in New York. Today he is a founding partner and Chief Technology Officer at Quantum Opus.
• Victor Glover, 37, naval officer, F/A-18 pilot and graduate of Naval Test Pilot School. Holds degrees from four universities.
  Tyler (Nick) Hughes, Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force, graduate of MIT, is currently stationed at the Department of Defense in the Combat Engineering Unit.
• Christina Hammock, 34 from North Carolina. degrees from North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Serves as a NOAA station manager in American Samoa.
• Nichol, Anapo Mann, 35, a major in the Marines, originally from California. Stanford graduate. Also trained as a test pilot and flies the F/A 18. Serves as Product Integration Manager at Naval Station Patuxent River.
• Anne McLain, 34, a major in the US Army from Washington State., and a graduate of the Universities of Bath and Bristol in Great Britain. helicopter squadron and recently graduated from Naval Test Pilot School on the Patuxent River.
• Jessica Meyer, of Caribou, Maine, is a graduate of Brown University, with advanced degrees from the International Space University and a doctorate from the Script Institute of Oceanography. She serves as an assistant professor of anesthesiology at the Harvard Medical School Hospital in Boston.
• Andrew Morgan - 37, from Pennsylvania, is also a doctor of medicine from the Military Medical University in Bethesda, Maryland. He served as an emergency physician and airborne surgeon in the US Army's Iodine Forces unit. These days he is completing a degree in sports medicine.

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