NASA has named the next 10 members of its astronaut corps, and one of those 10 is a geologist with plenty of space research experience who hails from the Pacific Northwest.
Lauren Edgar — who regards Sammamish, Wash., as her hometown — is part of the first class of astronaut candidates in which the women outnumber the men. It’s also the first class to include someone who has already gone into orbit on a commercial spacecraft, and who set a spaceflight record to boot.
NASA’s Class of 2025 was introduced today at a ceremony conducted at Johnson Space Center in Houston, with members of Congress and other VIPs in attendance.
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy noted that more than 8,000 people applied for this year’s spots. “We picked the best and the brightest, the most skilled, the best-looking, the best personalities to take these 10 spots,” he said. “One of these 10 could actually be one of the first Americans to put their boots on the Mars surface, which is very, very cool.”
