Eight very lucky Americans have been picked by NASA to become astronauts and begin training for future missions that may include visiting an asteroid or even travelling to our red neighbor, Mars, according to Discovery News.
The new astronauts represent a mixture of scientists and military pilots. Four men and four women were identified today and will train at the Johnson Space Center in Houston along with the other 49 American astronauts.
"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," a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "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 build by American companies. And they're ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars."
Over 6,000 applications were considered before NASA picked the eight astronauts, the second largest pool of applicants in the history of the space agency. The last class of new astronauts consisting of 9 people was introduced in 2009, none of whom have been to space yet, according to Discovery News.
"This year we have selected eight highly qualified individuals who have demonstrated impressive strengths academically, operationally and physically," director of Flight Crew Operations Janet Kavandi said. "They have diverse backgrounds and skill sets that will contribute greatly to the existing astronaut corps. Based on their incredible experiences to date, I have every confidence that they will apply their combined expertise and talents to achieve great things for NASA and this country in the pursuit of human exploration."
All of the new space travelers are in their thirties and come from a varied field of different scientific studies including physics, oceanography and medicine. NASA is holding a Google+ Hangout session to introduce the new astronauts starting at 4:00 p.m. EDT here.
