Golden Age of Space ahead with NASA's new class of astronauts: Know every detail

NASA's new ten entrants have been onboarded and might become the first people to set foot on Mars in the near future.

NASA has unveiled its new class of astronaut candidates.

The cadre, the 24th astronaut class in NASA's history and the first new one since 2021, was announced on September 22, 2025 during a ceremony at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy welcomed the all-American 2025 astronaut candidate during a ceremony held at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The NASA class of 24th astronauts, which includes four men and six women that were selected from more than 8,000 applicants, will begin training for future flights to the ISS, the moon, and ultimately Mars.

Nobody knows, but one day we will witness one of these astronauts landing on the surface of Mars.

NASA's acting administrator in his welcome note said, “I’m honored to welcome the next generation of American explorers to our agency!

More than 8,000 people applied: scientists, pilots, engineers, and dreamers from every corner of this nation.

The 10 men and women sitting here today embody the truth that in America, regardless of where you start, there is no limit to what a determined dreamer can achieve-even going to space."

Meet the class of 24th NASA astronauts

NASA has admitted more women than men this time in its 24th class of astronauts, which includes six pilots with experience in high-performance aircraft, an anesthesiologist, a biomedical engineer, a geologist, and a former SpaceX launch director.

Among the class of ten new astronauts is 39-year-old Anna Menon, who is a mother of two and had previously flown to orbit last year aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon as a private astronaut on a commercial flight.

Menon is excited about joining NASA again, she said, “I am so thrilled to be back here with the NASA family. As more and more people venture into space…we have this awesome opportunity to learn a tremendous amount to help support those astronauts and help keep them healthy and safe. So it’s an exciting time to be here.”

Anna, married to Anil Menon, a former Air Force flight surgeon, has been working with SpaceX as its first medical officer since 2018.

And Anil joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2021 and now has been assigned to a long-duration space station crew scheduled for launch aboard a Russian Soyuz next summer.

The other members of the 24th NASA class are,

• Lauren Edgar, 40 years old with a PhD in geology from the California Institute of Technology, has experience supporting NASA’s Mars exploration rovers.
• Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Ben Bailey, aged 38, is a graduate of the Naval Test Pilot School with an experience of over 2,000 hours of flying on 30 different aircraft.
• Bailey’s most recent assignment was with NASA’s Artemis 3 moon landing mission as a deputy principal investigator.
• Air Force Maj. Adam Fuhrmann, 35, is a graduate from Air Force Test Pilot School, with over 2,100 hours of flying F-16 and F-35 jets.
• Yuri Kubo, aged 40, a former SpaceX launch director with a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering.
• Rebecca Lawler, 38, a former Navy PP-3 Orion pilot and experimental test pilot with more than 2,800 hours of flight time.
• Air Force Maj. Cameron Jones, 35, is another graduate from Air Force Test School as well as the Air Force Weapons School with over 1,600 hours of flying experience with F-22 Raptor.

• Katherine Spies, 43, is a former Marine Corps AH-1 attack helicopter pilot and yet another graduate from Naval Test School with over 2,000 flying hours of experience. She was performing duties as director of flight test engineering for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. at the time of her astronaut selection.

• Katherine Spies, aged 43, is a former Marine Corps AH-1 attack helicopter pilot and yet another graduate from Naval Test School with over 2,000 flying hours of experience.

• She was performing duties as director of flight test engineering for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. at the time of her astronaut selection.

• Imelda Muller, a 34-year-old former undersea medical officer for the Navy with a medical degree from the University of Vermont’s Robert Larner College of Medicine; at the time of her astronaut selection, she was completing her residency in anesthesia at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

From the caliber of NASA’s new entrants, it seems like the future space exploration program is going to be incredibly exciting and could prove to be another milestone for humanity.