NASA Selects 10 Astronauts Candidates To Support Future Moon & Mars Missions, Six Are Women

Hyderabad: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the 2025 Astronaut Candidate (ASCAN) list. It contains ten astronaut candidates, selected from more than 8,000 applicants in the United States (US). The shortlisted candidates will be offered flight assignments after completing two years of their training. These candidates are expected to support future science and exploration missions to low Earth orbit, lunar missions under Artemis, and be enrolled on crew missions to Mars.

NASA Administrator Sean Duffy welcomes all the 2025 astronaut candidates during a ceremony held at the space agency’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, US.

Notably, this will be the space agency’s 24th astronaut class, with a majority of women for the first time in the history of NASA, since 1959.

2025 ASCAN List and their background

As per NASA, the 24th astronaut class represents a diverse group of knowledge and experience. Among the ten candidates, Lauren Edgar, a geologist, contributed to the formulation of Artemis science objectives; Anna Menon, a private astronaut and a former SpaceX operations engineer; Adam Fuhrmann and Cameron Jones are military test pilots; and Imelda Muller is a physician. The other candidates are engineers, flight surgeons, and planetary scientists.

Interestingly, the 2025 ASCAN list consists of six women participants, which is the first time in the history of NASA to have a majority of women in the class. The detailed list of 2025 ASCAN participants is given below.

Ben Bailey (38)

• Rank: Chief Warrant Officer 3, US Army
• Hometown: Charlottesville, Virginia
• Education: BSc Mechanical Engineering (UVA), MSc Systems Engineering (Naval Postgraduate School)
• Flight Experience: 2,000+ hours in 30+ rotary/fixed-wing aircraft
• Role at Selection: Developmental testing of Army rotary wing tech (UH-60, CH-47F)

Lauren Edgar (40)

• Rank: Civilian Scientist
• Hometown: Sammamish, Washington
• Education: BSc Earth Sciences (Dartmouth), MSc & PhD Geology (Caltech)
• Experience: 17+ years in Mars rover missions
• Role at Selection: Deputy PI, Artemis III Geology Team at USGS

Adam Fuhrmann (35)

• Rank: Major, US Air Force
• Hometown: Leesburg, Virginia
• Education: BSc Aerospace Engineering (MIT), MSc Flight Test Eng & Systems Eng (USAF TPS, Purdue)
• Flight Experience: 2,100+ hours in 27 aircraft, 400 combat hours
• Role at Selection: Director of operations, Air Force flight test unit

Cameron Jones (35)

• Rank: Major, US Air Force
• Hometown: Savanna, Illinois
• Education: BSc & MSc Aerospace Engineering (UIUC)
• Flight Experience: 1,600+ hours in 30+ aircraft, 150 combat hours (mostly F-22 Raptor)
• Role at Selection: Academic Fellow at DARPA

Yuri Kubo (40)

• Rank: Civilian Engineer
• Hometown: Columbus, Indiana
• Education: BSc Electrical Eng, MSc Electrical & Computer Eng (Purdue)
• Experience: SpaceX launch director, avionics lead, NASA co-op
• Role at Selection: SVP of Engineering at Electric Hydrogen

Rebecca Lawler (38)

• Rank: Former Lt. Commander, US Navy
• Hometown: Little Elm, Texas
• Education: BSc Mechanical Eng (US Naval Academy), MSc (Johns Hopkins, NTPS)
• Flight Experience: 2,800+ hours in 45+ aircraft, NOAA hurricane hunter, NASA IceBridge
• Role at Selection: Test pilot at United Airlines

Anna Menon (39)

• Rank: Civilian Engineer / Astronaut
• Hometown: Houston, Texas
• Education: BSc Math & Spanish (TCU), MSc Biomedical Eng (Duke)
• Experience: SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission specialist, ISS medical hardware/software
• Role at Selection: Senior Engineer at SpaceX

Imelda Muller (34)

• Rank: Former Lt, US Navy
• Hometown: Copake Falls, New York
• Education: BSc Behavioral Neuroscience (Northeastern), MD (University of Vermont)
• Experience: Undersea medical officer, NASA Neutral Buoyancy Lab support
• Role at Selection: Anesthesia resident at Johns Hopkins

Erin Overcash (34)

• Rank: Lt Commander, US Navy
• Hometown: Goshen, Kentucky
• Education: BSc Aerospace Eng., MSc Bioastronautics (University of Colorado)
• Flight Experience: 1,300+ hours in 20 aircraft, 249 carrier landings, Olympic rugby athlete
• Role at Selection: Training for squadron department head tour

Katherine Spies (43)

• Rank: Former Marine Corps Pilot
• Hometown: San Diego, California
• Education: BSc Chemical Eng. (USC), MSc Design Eng. (Harvard)
• Flight Experience: 2,000+ hours in 30+ aircraft, AH-1 attack helicopter test pilot
• Role at Selection: Director of Flight Test Engineering at Gulfstream Aerospace

Training and future mission

The shortlisted candidates will begin their preparation in early 2026, where they will undergo two years of rigorous training at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre. It will involve spacewalking skills, robotics, flight operations, geology, and space medicine, along with studying Russian for future International Space Station (ISS) assignments. Although these candidates are not planned to be involved in the first Artemis lunar landing, they are expected to crew future Artemis missions. The Artemis space missions aim to build a sustained Moon base and test systems for long-duration travel.

The space flight experience gained by these future astronauts will support NASA’s goal of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s.