Additional lunar missions are planned once a year thereafter and human exploration of Mars is targeted for the mid-2030s. With a goal of sustainable lunar exploration later this decade, NASA will send the first woman and next man to the surface on the Moon by 2024. The new graduates may be assigned to missions destined for the International Space Station, the Moon, and ultimately, Mars. The new astronauts successfully completed more than two years of required basic training and are the first to graduate since the agency announced its Artemis program. NASA welcomed 11 new astronauts to its ranks Friday, increasing the number of those eligible for spaceflight assignments that will expand humanity’s horizons in space for generations to come. Credits: NASAĮditor’s Note: This release was updated shortly after being issued to correct the number of active astronauts in NASA’s corps to 48. Pictured from left are: Kayla Barron of NASA, Zena Cardman of NASA, Raja Chari of NASA, Matthew Dominick of NASA, Bob Hines of NASA, Warren Hoburg of NASA, Jonny Kim of NASA, Joshua Kutryk of CSA, Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, Loral O’Hara of NASA, Jessica Watkins of NASA, Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons of CSA, and Frank Rubio of NASA.

They will join the active astronaut corps, beginning careers in exploration that may take them to the International Space Station, on missions to the Moon under the Artemis program, or someday, Mars. The class includes 11 NASA candidates, as well as two Canadian Space Agency (CSA) candidates, selected in 2017. NASA’s new class of astronauts – the first to graduate since the agency announced its Artemis program – appear on stage during their graduation ceremony at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Jan.

List of nasa careers all departments