NASA has announced its latest class of astronaut candidates, featuring ten individuals, including one who has already ventured into space. On September 22, 2023, the agency introduced its newest astronaut class, composed of an equal number of men and women, who will undergo rigorous training for potential missions to commercial space stations, the Moon, and possibly Mars.
Among the newly selected candidates is Anna Menon, who gained valuable experience during her previous spaceflight. She participated in the Polaris Dawn mission, which took place on September 10, 2024, aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, named Resilience. This mission marked a significant milestone as it was the first in the Polaris Program, a project funded and led by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman.
The Polaris Dawn mission was historic for several reasons. It reached an impressive altitude of 870 miles (1,400.7 kilometers), surpassing previous crewed spaceflights since the Apollo era. Notably, during this mission, Menon and fellow astronaut Sarah Gillis became the first women to reach such heights in space. Additionally, Polaris Dawn included the first-ever private spacewalk, allowing the crew to experience the vastness of space firsthand.
At the announcement ceremony held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Menon chose to emphasize her professional background rather than her spaceflight experience. She holds a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University and has previously worked at NASA as a biomedical flight controller. In her remarks, she expressed her enthusiasm for the future of space medicine.
“My first role out of graduate school was here at NASA’s Johnson Space Center,” Menon stated. “I worked as a biomedical flight controller, and in that role, our job was to support the medical hardware and software on the International Space Station and help keep the astronauts healthy and safe from Mission Control.”
Menon further elaborated on the possibilities within space medicine, noting, “As more and more people venture into space, and we seek to go further than ever before, we have this awesome opportunity to learn a tremendous amount to help support those astronauts and those people that are flying in those adventures and help keep them healthy and safe.”
Menon is joined by nine other candidates in the 2025 NASA astronaut class, the 24th in the agency’s history and its first since 2021. The new class includes Ben Bailey, Lauren Edgar, Adam Fuhrmann, Cameron Jones, Yuri Kubo, Rebecca Lawler, Imelda Muller, Erin Overcash, and Katherine Spies.
These candidates will embark on a two-year training program that will prepare them for various potential space missions. Some may join NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon, while others could be among the first to set foot on Mars. As the space agency continues to push boundaries, the future of human exploration in space looks promising with this new group of astronaut candidates.
