Update: Indian American among 12 astronauts chosen by NASA
June 08, 2017 09:03
NASA has chosen 12 new astronauts, including an Indian-American, from a record number of over 18,000 applicants, who will be trained for missions into Earth orbit and to deep space.
The seven men and five women comprise the 22nd class of American spaceflight trainees since 1959. This is the largest group NASA has selected in almost two decades.
It was selected from a record 18,300 applicants -- more than NASA has ever had during an open astronaut call.
Lt Col Raja "Grinder" Chari, 39, is a commander of
the 461st Flight Test Squadron and the director of the F-35 Integrated Test
Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California .
Hailing from
To get picked, people had to meet some physical requirements as well as certain education and experience criteria -- such as having a bachelor's degree in a STEM field or accumulating up to 1,000 hours of piloting jets.
But it's clear that this new class greatly surpasses all the minimum skills that NASA requires.
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