NASA selects first astronaut class with more women than men

NASA has announced its next class of 10 astronaut candidates, marking the first time in the space agency’s more than 60-year history that women outnumber men. The group includes six women and four men, representing engineers, scientists, and former military personnel.

Notably, two of the candidates are former SpaceX employees, including Anna Menon, who previously flew to orbit in 2024 as part of the company’s Polaris Dawn mission, which featured the first commercial spacewalk. Menon is also the first astronaut candidate selected who has already flown in orbit, according to Bloomberg.

The new astronaut class joins NASA as the agency advances its Artemis program, aimed at returning humans to the moon. The program’s goals include learning how to sustain a human presence on the lunar surface and applying those lessons to future missions to Mars.

NASA is also competing to return astronauts to the moon before China lands its own.

“I’ll be damned if the Chinese beat NASA or beat America back to the moon,” said Sean Duffy, US Transportation Secretary and NASA’s acting administrator, during a ceremony at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We’re going to win. We love challenges. We love competition.”

The candidates will undergo two years of training before becoming eligible for flight assignments, which could include missions to low Earth orbit or to the moon. Duffy noted that one of the candidates could eventually be among the first Americans to set foot on Mars. 

“No pressure, NASA,” he said. “We have some work to do.”

By Sabina Mammadli