Overview

• Ten candidates were selected from more than 8,000 applicants, marking the first incoming NASA class with a majority of women (six women, four men).
• The group begins two years of training at Johnson Space Center covering geology, water and land survival, robotics, space medicine, EVA simulations and high‑performance jet flights.
• Selectees bring military and commercial space experience; Anna Menon becomes the first new NASA astronaut with prior orbital flight after SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn.
• NASA reaffirmed Artemis II as a crewed lunar flyby in the February–April 2026 window, with officials working toward a first launch opportunity on February 5, subject to safety.
• Artemis II will fly Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a roughly 10‑day mission launching from Kennedy Space Center with a Pacific Ocean splashdown, intended to validate Orion systems before Artemis III, planned no earlier than 2027.