After an extensive year-and-a-half search, NASA has a new group of potential astronauts who will help the agency push the boundaries of exploration and travel to new destinations in the solar system, including an asteroid and Mars.
Eight candidates (including two West Point graduates) have been selected to be NASA's newest astronaut trainees, hoping to be among those who are the first to launch from U.S. soil on commercial American spacecraft since the retirement of the space shuttle.
The 2013 astronaut candidate class comes from the second largest number of applications NASA has received -- more than 6,000. Half of the selectees are women, making this the highest percentage of female astronaut candidates ever selected for a class. The group will receive a wide array of technical training at space centers and remote locations around the globe to prepare for missions to low-Earth orbit, an asteroid and Mars.
"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we're doing big, bold things here -- developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "They're excited about the science we're doing on the International Space Station and our plan to launch from U.S. soil to there on spacecraft built by American companies. And they're ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars."
The two astronaut candidates from the Long Gray Line are:
Anne C. McClain '02, Major, U.S. Army, lists her hometown as Spokane, Washington. She is a graduate of The United States Military Academy at West Point, University of Bath, and University of Bristol. McClain is an OH-58 helicopter pilot, and a recent graduate of U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. McClain has also been assistant coach for USA Rugby’s Women’s All Star Team.
Andrew R. Morgan '98, M.D., Major, US Army, considers New Castle, Pennsylvania, home. Morgan is a graduate of The United States Military Academy at West Point, and earned an M.D. from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He has experience as an emergency physician and flight surgeon for the Army special operations community, and is currently completing a sports medicine fellowship.