Women Outnumber Men Picked For NASA's Astronaut Class, First In 6 Decades

For the first time in NASA's more than 60-year history, women outnumber men in the space agency's newest class of astronaut candidates.

The newly selected cohort consists of six women and four men, comprising engineers, scientists and veterans of military service.

Among the notable selections are two former SpaceX employees, including Anna Menon, who made history in 2024 as part of the Polaris Dawn mission which featured the first commercial spacewalk. Menon distinguishes herself as the first astronaut candidate ever chosen who has already experienced orbital spaceflight.

This new astronaut class arrives as NASA intensifies its Artemis program aimed at returning humans to the lunar surface. The initiative seeks to establish sustainable human presence on the moon and apply these insights to future Mars expeditions.

NASA is also engaged in what some view as a space race with China to reach the moon first with human crews.

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

The selected candidates face a rigorous two-year training program before becoming eligible for flight assignments, which could include missions to low Earth orbit or lunar destinations. Duffy suggested that among this group might be one of the first Americans to step onto Martian soil.

"No pressure, NASA," he added. "We have some work to do."