NASA's newest astronaut class graduates

This week NASA's newest astronauts graduated from their training on the 5th of March. The group of astronauts consists of twelve people, with two from the United Arab Emirates.

The twelve were chosen from a group of over twelve thousand applicants and were selected for training in 2021, it's believed the training started in 2022. The group has nicknamed themselves "The Flies". NASA has said that these new astronauts are now eligible for missions to the International Space Station, future orbiting destinations in Earth orbit, and potentially the Moon.

Who are NASA's newest astronauts?

Nichole Ayers

Nichole Ayers is a twin and was born in San Diego, California. She graduated from Woodland Park High School in Woodland Park, in Colorado, and earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in Russian from the U.S. Air Force Academy, as well as earned a master’s degree in computational and applied mathematics from Rice University in Houston.

Ayers currently has 1,400 flight hours in the T-38A/B/C/N and F-22 Raptor. She flew over 200 combat hours in Operation Inherent Resolve over Iraq and Syria and also was the assistant director of operations in the 90th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, in Alaska.

Marcos Berríos

Marcos Gabriel Berríos was born in Fort Campbell, in Tennessee. He graduated from Antilles High School, in Bayamón Puerto Rico, and earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge Massachusetts, as well as earned a master of science in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University, in Palo Alto California. He also graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, in Maryland.

Berríos currently has over 1,400 flight hours across twenty-plus different aircraft. He has served as the commander of Detachment 1, of the 413th Flight Test Squadron and as deputy director of the CSAR Combined Task Force.

Chris Birch

Chris (Christina) Birch was born in Mesa, Arizona. She graduated from Gilbert High School in 2004, and earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from the University of Arizona in 2008, as well as earned a doctorate in biological engineering from MIT in 2015.

Birch previously raced for the U.S. National Team as a track cyclist. During her cycling career, she earned eleven National Championships, three World Cup medals in the team pursuit and Madison races, and twice participated in the World Championships. She was also training with the U.S. National Team ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

Deniz Burnham

Deniz Burnham was born on the Incirlik Air Base in Adana, Türkiye. She graduated from Vanden High School, in Fairfield California, and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of California in 2007, as well as earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California in 2017.

Burnham served in the U.S. Navy Reserves as an Engineering Duty Officer alongside working in the energy industry as an onsite company representative and managed drilling optimization projects and emission reduction strategies for drilling rigs.

Luke Delaney

Luke Delaney was born in Miami, Florida. He graduated from Deltona High School in 1997, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of North Florida in 2006, as well as earned a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2016. He also completed the United States Naval Test Pilot School in 2014.

Delany has flown almost fifty different aircraft and has accumulated over 3,900 flight hours. He has also been a NASA Langley Research Pilot and supported airborne science missions.

Andre Douglas

Andre Douglas was born in Miami, Florida. He graduated from Western Branch High School, in Chesapeake Virginia, and earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2008, as well as earned a master of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in 2012 alongside earning a master of science in naval architecture and marine engineering, he has also earned a master of science in electrical and computer engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2019. He also holds a Doctorate in systems engineering from George Washington University since 2021.

Douglas previously served with the United States Coast Guard where he led crewmembers through alien migrant interdictions, humanitarian relief efforts, and drug enforcement operations. After his time with the Coast Guard, he worked on a variety of research projects including NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, DART, planetary defense mission.

Jack Hathaway

Jack Hathaway was born in South Windsor, Connecticut. He graduated from Windsor High School in 2000, and earned a bachelor’s in physics and history from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2004, as well as earned a master’s of science in flight dynamics from Cranfield University in 2014. He also earned a master’s in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College and graduated from Empire Test Pilot’s School in 2011 as part of Fixed Wing Class 70.

Hathaway has over 2,500 flight hours in thirty types of aircraft as well as performing over five-hundred carrier landings. He has also been part of thirty-nine combat missions.

Anil Menon

Anil Menon was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated from Saint Paul Academy and Summit School, in Saint Paul Minnesota, in 1995, earned a bachelor's degree in Neurobiology from Harvard University in 1999, as well as a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 2004.

He has also done and earned the following:

Doctor of Medicine, Stanford Medical School, 2006.
Residency in Emergency Medicine, Stanford University, 2009.
Fellowship in Wilderness Medicine, Stanford University, 2010.
Residency in Aerospace Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 2012.
Master’s in Public Health, UTMB-Galveston, 2012.

Menon has supported four long-duration crew members on the International Space Station as the deputy crew surgeon for Soyuz missions Soyuz 39 and Soyuz 43 and prime crew surgeon for Soyuz 52. His research efforts have also led to the publication of over 20 scientific articles on emergency medicine and space medicine.

Christopher Williams

Christopher Williams was born in New York City, New York. He graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in 2001, earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Stanford University in 2005, as well as a doctorate in physics from MIT in 2012. He has also completed residency training at the Harvard Medical Physics Residency Program in 2015.

Williams performed research focusing on developing radio telescope instrumentation and data processing techniques for cosmology and was part of the team that built the Murchison Widefield Array.

Jessica Wittner

Jessica Wittner was born in Fresno, California. She graduated from Buchanan High School in 2001, earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona in 2009, as well as earned a Master of Science in Engineering Science from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 2018.

Wittner was previously the department head of the Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-151. She has also led multiple engineering teams in the development and flight test of mission-critical capabilities for the F/A-18E-F Super Hornet.

Nora AlMatrooshi

Nora AlMatrooshi is part of the United Arab Emirates' second batch of astronauts having previously been an engineer at the National Petroleum Construction Company.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the United Arab Emirates University and training from Vaasa University of Applied Sciences in Finland.

Mohammed Al Mulla

Mohammed Al Mulla is part of the United Arab Emirates' second batch of astronauts having previously been Head of the Training Department of the Air Wing Centre at Dubai Police.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in law and economics and an Executive Master of Public Administration from the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government.