NASA announced its latest astronaut class on September 22, 2024, introducing ten candidates who will train for missions to commercial space stations, the Moon, and potentially Mars. Among this new group is Anna Menon, who brings significant experience to the team, having already participated in a spaceflight during the historic Polaris Dawn mission.
The Polaris Dawn mission, which took place from September 10 to September 15, 2024, marked a milestone in private space exploration, reaching an altitude of 870 miles (1,400.7 kilometers). This achievement positioned it as the highest crewed flight since the Apollo missions. Notably, it also featured the first private spacewalk, in which Menon, alongside fellow crew member Sarah Gillis, exited the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule named Resilience.
At the astronaut announcement ceremony held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Menon chose to emphasize her biomedical engineering background rather than her spaceflight experience. She holds a master’s degree from Duke University and has previously worked as a biomedical flight controller for NASA. In her remarks, she expressed excitement about the future of space medicine, stating, “We are born into one G, and so when you go into zero G, so many things change.”
Menon highlighted the potential for advancements in health and safety for astronauts as more people venture into space. She remarked, “As more and more people venture into space…we have this awesome opportunity to learn a tremendous amount to help support those astronauts.”
The new astronaut candidates include Ben Bailey, Lauren Edgar, Adam Fuhrmann, Cameron Jones, Yuri Kubo, Rebecca Lawler, Imelda Muller, Erin Overcash, and Katherine Spies. This class is notable for being the first since 2021 and the 24th in NASA’s history.
Over the next two years, these candidates will undergo rigorous training to prepare for a variety of potential missions, including participation in the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon. Some candidates may even have the opportunity to be among the first to set foot on Mars.
As space exploration continues to evolve, NASA’s latest class of astronaut candidates represents a new generation poised to expand humanity’s presence beyond Earth.
