NASA picks 12 new astronauts from crush of applicants

CAPECANAVERAL, FLA. » NASA chose 12 new astronauts Wednesday from its biggest pool of applicants ever, hand-picking seven men and five women who could one day fly aboard the nation’s next generation of spacecraft.

The astronaut class of 2017 includes doctors, scientists, engineers, pilots and military officers from Anchorage to Miami and points in between. They range in age from 29 to 42.

Vice President Mike Pence welcomed the group during a televised ceremony at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. He offered President Donald Trump’s congratulations and noted that the president is “firmly committed to NASA’s noble mission, leading America in space.”

The 12 selected Wednesday will join 44 astronauts already in the NASA corps. After two years of training, the newbies may end up riding commercial rockets to the International Space Station or flying beyond the moon in NASA’s Orion spacecraft. Their ultimate destination could be Mars.

The new astronauts are: Navy Lt. Kayla Barron of Richland, Washington; Zena Cardman of Williams- burg, Virginia; Air Force Lt. Col. Raja Chari of Cedar Falls, Iowa; Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Dominick of Wheat Ridge, Colorado; Bob Hines of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Warren “Woody” Hoburg of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Dr. Jonny Kim of Los Angeles; Robb Kulin of Anchorage, Alaska; Marine Maj. Jasmin Moghbeli of Baldwin, New York; Loral O’Hara of Sugar Land, Texas; Dr. Francisco “Frank” Rubio of Miami; and Jessica Watkins of Lafayette, Colorado.