{"id":38960,"date":"2020-12-12T00:32:41","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T00:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/12\/more-than-half-of-nasas-moon-bound-astronauts-are-active-duty-military\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:46:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:46:56","slug":"more-than-half-of-nasas-moon-bound-astronauts-are-active-duty-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2020\/12\/12\/more-than-half-of-nasas-moon-bound-astronauts-are-active-duty-military\/","title":{"rendered":"More than half of NASA\u2019s moon-bound astronauts are active-duty military"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NASA has announced the team of 18 astronauts who will spearhead the agency\u2019s efforts to return to the moon by 2024. Among them were 10 active-duty military personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice President Mike Pence named the nine men and women who will make up the Artemis program on Wednesday at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service members on the Artemis team represent all four branches of service as well as several of the career fields the military has to offer, including test pilots, a submarine officer, a Navy SEAL, and a flight surgeon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vice President Mike Pence introduces NASA astronauts during a meeting of the National Space Council inside the Apollo\/Saturn V Center at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida on Dec. 9, 2020. (Photo courtesy NASA\/Kim Shiflett)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI give you the heroes who will carry us to the Moon and beyond \u2014 the Artemis Generation,\u201d said Pence. \u201cIt is amazing to think that the next man and first woman on the Moon are among the names that we just read. The Artemis Team astronauts are the future of American space exploration<\/a>, and that future is bright.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the team\u2019s nine members who stand a chance at being the first women to walk on the moon, four are actively serving in the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReflecting on all the incredible women at NASA who came before me\u2026 it\u2019s kind of the logical conclusion of all those accomplishments that the next time we go to the moon, a woman will be on that crew,\u201d said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kayla Barron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barron was a member of the first Naval Academy class from which women were allowed to commission into the submarine force. Her time on the ballistic missile submarine Maine encouraged her to become an astronaut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe submarine force just really has this culture where the sailors are molding you into the leader they want to work with, and that\u2019s what drew me into that community,\u201d Barron told Military Times. \u201cBut it was my experience on the submarine that made me want to and believe that I could become an astronaut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kayla Barron is one of nine women who could be the first to walk on the moon. (Photo courtesy NASA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When she returned to the Naval Academy for a shore assignment, Barron met an astronaut who compared life on the space station to working and living on a submarine. Intrigued by the interaction, she applied and was accepted to the astronaut program in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight of the other Artemis astronauts are also members of the 2017 class, NASA\u2019s most recent. Nine Artemis astronauts have already flown in space<\/a>, including Christina Hammock Koch, a member of the 2013 class who holds the record for longest spaceflight by a woman with 328 days in space and six spacewalks. One member of the team, Marine Corps Lt. Col. Nicole Mann, was selected in 2013 but has not yet flown in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military service members on the Artemis team:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kayla Barron<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Air Force Col. Raja Chari<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Dominick<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Navy Cmdr. Victor Glover<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Navy Lt. Jonny Kim<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Marine Corps Lt. Col. Nicole Mann<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Army Lt. Col. Anne McClain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Marine Corps Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Army Lt. Col. Frank Rubio<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Navy Capt. Scott Tingle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once selected to attend astronaut training<\/a>, candidates work for two years to become fully qualified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe International Space Station is our primary mission right now, so we spend a lot of time learning the systems and procedures for that spacecraft,\u201d said Army Lt. Col. Frank Rubio, also a member of the 2017 class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Rubio, a former Black Hawk pilot and flight surgeon with the 10th Special Forces Group, the most difficult part of astronaut training was learning to speak Russian to communicate with cosmonauts on the ISS. Candidates also take classes in medical procedures, robotics, and spacecraft repair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some candidates, military training gave them a head start. As a former test pilot<\/a>, Air Force Col. Raja Chari had already learned to fly the T-38 jets used by NASA for flight training. One of the best parts of being assigned to NASA, according to Chari, is the ability to continue working in a mission-driven and team-oriented environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people at NASA, very similar to the Air Force, who could make a lot more money doing something else, and they\u2019re here because they believe in the mission,\u201d said Chari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next three to four years, the astronauts will train, test, and design the equipment needed to land and live on the moon for extended periods of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of the astronauts selected for the Artemis program is at the top of their field and fully committed to the mission of furthering research beyond the planet. Navy Lt. Jonny Kim is perhaps one of the best examples of commitment and excellence in his field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former Navy SEAL<\/a> with more than 100 combat operations and a doctorate of medicine from Harvard Medical School, Kim said that, upon enlisting in the Navy, he didn\u2019t have any plans or goals beyond becoming a naval special warfare operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Being a SEAL] was certainly a memorable experience because it redefined new limits, gave me new benchmarks on how to judge the rest of my life,\u201d he told Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his first deployment to Ramadi in 2006 as a corpsman, Kim recalled having to practice medicine to save the lives of civilians, enemy personnel, and his fellow SEALs. But not being able to do more than stabilize a patient until they could reach a surgeon made him feel helpless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, I saw medicine as a way that I could pivot the same hunger I have for service to a new direction and to be able to help people,\u201d said Kim. It wasn\u2019t until he reached medical school that he began to consider the idea of becoming an astronaut, which he saw as a continuation of his fascination for pushing beyond human limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2017 NASA Astronaut Candidate – Jonny Kim. Photo Date: June 6, 2017. Location: Ellington Field – Hangar 276, Tarmac. Photographer: Robert Markowitz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lieutenant and astronaut expressed gratitude to the military for the opportunities it\u2019s given him and excitement for the opportunity he has to encourage a new generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would like to thank the military mentors I\u2019ve had along my path and say that if you\u2019re in a position to give to the next generation, to the next set of leaders, through mentorship that I implore you to spend the time to develop those relationships,\u201d said Kim. \u201cThose are the ones that make an organization strong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is part of the human spirit to explore.

Today, we\u2019d like to introduce you to our @NASAArtemis<\/a> team \u2014 the initial team of @NASA_Astronauts<\/a> who will help pave the way for our next human missions on and around the Moon: https:\/\/t.co\/AiXfUyP6zl<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/LMJ0nNlE2N<\/a><\/p>— NASA (@NASA) December 9, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>