NASA Astronaut Group 22

The Turtles
The Turtles
	NASA Astronaut Group 22 with Vice President Mike Pence
Year selected	2017
Number selected	12
	← 2013

NASA Astronaut Group 22 (nicknamed "The Turtles") is a group of twelve astronauts selected in June 2017.

History

NASA announced the creation of this astronaut group in November 2015 and accepted applications for astronaut hires from December 2015 through February 2016.^[1] A record number of applications - over 18,300 - were received. The final group of twelve selected candidates was publicly announced on June 7, 2017.^[2]

The Group 22 Astronaut Candidates arrived at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for training in August 2017, and when their approximately two-year-long training program is complete, they will be available for future missions.^{[citation needed]}

The class was introduced at a press conference at the Johnson Space Center by U. S. Vice President Mike Pence. The ages of the seven men and five women ranged from 29 to 42 at the time of announcement.^{[citation needed]}

The group earned their nickname from the prior astronaut group, "The 8-Balls," as is tradition dating back to "The Mercury Seven" in 1962 which subsequently provided the "Next Nine" with their nickname. They were given this name, for the most part, because of Hurricane Harvey.^[3]

Candidates

Kayla Barron (born 1987): Lt., U.S. Navy
Zena Cardman (born 1987): Biologist
Raja Chari (born 1977): Col., U.S. Air Force
Matthew Dominick (born 1981): Lt. Cmdr., U.S. Navy
Bob Hines (born 1975): NASA research pilot
Warren Hoburg (born 1985): assistant professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT
Jonny Kim (born 1984): Lt., U.S. Navy physician, former U.S. Navy SEAL
Robb Kulin (born 1983): Launch Chief Engineer, SpaceX – Resigned in August 2018 before completing his training. ^[4]
Jasmin Moghbeli (born 1983): Maj., U.S. Marine Corps
Loral O'Hara (born 1983): research engineer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Francisco Rubio (born 1975): Maj., U.S. Army
Jessica Watkins (born 1988): postdoctoral fellow, California Institute of Technology

References

[1]

^ http://astronauts.nasa.gov/content/timeline.htm
^ NASA. "NASA's Newest Astronaut Recruits to Conduct Research off the Earth, For the Earth and Deep Space Missions". NASA. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
^ "'Turtles' on a really high post: NASA's new astronauts get their nickname | collectSPACE". collectSPACE.com. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
^ NASA astronaut candidate resigns prior to qualifying for spaceflight

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[1] ttp://astronauts.nasa.gov/content/timeline.htm

[2017class-2] NASA. "NASA's Newest Astronaut Recruits to Conduct Research off the Earth, For the Earth and Deep Space Missions". NASA. Retrieved June 7, 2017.

[:0-3] "'Turtles' on a really high post: NASA's new astronauts get their nickname | collectSPACE". collectSPACE.com. Retrieved 2019-10-04.

[4] NASA astronaut candidate resigns prior to qualifying for spaceflight

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