HOUSTON — On Tuesday, NASA honored its next generation of space travelers.
After more than two years of training, the 12 new Artemis astronauts earned their wings at the Johnson Space Center.
It marked a big milestone for the latest graduating class, which includes 10 NASA astronauts and two astronauts from the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center.
The group was met with claps and cheers as they walked onto the graduation stage.
"Alright, please welcome NASA's 23rd astronaut class!” Shannon Walker, Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office, said.
Made up of seven men and five women, Astronaut Group 23 (XXIII) includes a diverse group, with different skill sets and backgrounds.
"This class is made up of engineers, scientists, a doctor, helicopter pilots, and jet pilots, we have both military and civilian backgrounds,” Walker said.
More affectionately known as "The Flies," a name given to them by the previous class, Tuesday's pinning ceremony was a recognition of their hard work.
"Today we get to celebrate your successful completion of two years of rigorous training to become astronauts,” Jim Free, NASA Associate Administrator, said. “We train you to the standard of what a NASA astronaut should be, that matters because when you wear that blue flight suit, you become NASA to the world.”
The training included spacewalking, robotics, T-38 jet proficiency and more.
Selected from a pool of 12,000 applicants, the astronauts are now eligible for space flights, including trips to the International Space Station, the moon, and Mars.
"Today we're operating more human spacecraft than ever before,” Director of Johnson Space Center Vanessa Wyche said. “Today, we’re graduating a variety of individuals, but together, collectively, what they're going to bring to space exploration is something that's a benefit for all of us going very far forward into the future.”
Among the new astronauts is Anil Menon, who pursued his residency in aerospace medicine at UTMB Galveston. When asked what the Artemis mission meant to him, he said he looked forward to its impact on space medicine.
"We're going to see more and more people up there, we're going to see people up there longer than we've ever seen them, we're going to see new conditions, and it's just going to expand the sphere of medicine as we understand it in space, and as we understand it on the ground, and I'm excited about that because I love medicine,” Menon said.
Nicole Ayers, who was a major in the U.S. Air Force and got her master’s degree from Rice University, said the group is looking forward to learning from the past and embarking on a new chapter.
"Working and living here, it feels like you're constantly walking where someone else walked previously, the current and the previous astronauts, this whole area is full of so much history, so I can't wait to follow in their footsteps,” Ayers said.
If you think you have what it takes to be an astronaut, NASA is currently accepting applications for its next class.
For details, click here.