NASA Astronaut Group 22 (nicknamed "The Turtles") is a group of twelve

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

selected in June 2017. They were joined by two

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; french: Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The president is Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 2020 ...

astronauts for training.

History

announced the creation of this astronaut group in November 2015 and accepted applications for astronaut hires from December 2015 through February 2016. A record number of applications - over 18,300 - were received. The final group of twelve selected candidates was publicly announced on June 7, 2017. The class was introduced at a press conference at the Johnson Space Center by U. S. Vice President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

. The ages of the seven men and six women ranged from 29 to 42 at the time of announcement. The Group 22 Astronaut Candidates arrived at the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

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for training in August 2017, and when their approximately two-year-long training program was complete in January 2020, they became available for future missions. The group earned their "Turtles" nickname after experiencing flooding from Hurricane Harvey shortly after arriving at NASA. The name was chosen by the preceding astronaut group, "The 8-Balls", according to NASA traditions. The first astronauts of this astronaut group to fly to space,

Raja Chari Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari (born June 24, 1977) is an American test pilot and NASA astronaut. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, and has over 2,000 flyi ...

and

Kayla Barron Kayla Jane Barron (born September 19, 1987) is an American submarine warfare officer, engineer and NASA astronaut. Barron was selected in June 2017 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 22, and later qualified as an astronaut in 2020. Barron ...

on SpaceX Crew-3 took a toy stuffed turtle as zero-g indicator, to pay a tribute to their astronaut group.

Group members

(born 1987): Lt. Cmdr., U.S. Navy ** Mission Specialist, SpaceX Crew-3 (

Expedition 66 Expedition 66 was the 66th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The mission began after the departure of Soyuz MS-18 on 17 October 2021. It was commanded by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the fourth Europe ...

/ 67) * Zena Cardman (born 1987): Biologist *

(born 1977): Col., U.S. Air Force ** Spacecraft Commander, SpaceX Crew-3 (

/ 67) * Matthew Dominick (born 1981): Cmdr., U.S. Navy * Bob Hines (born 1975): NASA research pilot ** Pilot, SpaceX Crew-4 ( Expedition 67) *

Warren Hoburg Warren Woodrow "Woody" Hoburg (born September 16, 1985) is an American engineer and NASA astronaut. Early life and education Warren Hoburg was born on September 16, 1985, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Jim and Peggy Hoburg. While attending No ...

(born 1985): assistant professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT ** Future Flight,

SpaceX Crew-6 SpaceX Crew-6 is the sixth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the ninth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission launched on 2 March 2023 at 05:34:14 UTC, and it successfully docked to the Inter ...

* Jonny Kim (born 1984): Lt., U.S. Navy, physician, former

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* Robb Kulin (born 1983): Launch Chief Engineer,

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– Resigned in August 2018 before completing his training. * Jasmin Moghbeli (born 1983): LtCol.,

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through comb ...

** Future Flight, SpaceX Crew-7 *

Loral O'Hara Loral Ashley O'Hara (born May 3, 1983) is an American engineer and NASA astronaut. Early life and education Loral Ashley O'Hara was born on May 3, 1983, in Houston, Texas, to Cindy and Steve O'Hara. She grew up in Sugar Land, Texas, where she ...

(born 1983): research engineer,

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

** Future Flight,

Soyuz MS-23 Soyuz MS-23 is a planned Russian uncrewed Soyuz spaceflight to launch from Baikonur on 20 February 2023 to the International Space Station, in order to replace the Soyuz MS spacecraft for landing that the three Soyuz MS-22 crew members launch ...

Francisco Rubio Francisco "Paco" Rubio (born 6 December 1953) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, bre ...

(born 1975): Maj., U.S. Army physician ** Mission Specialist, Soyuz MS-22 *

Jessica Watkins Jessica Andrea Watkins (born May 14, 1988) is an American NASA astronaut, geologist, aquanaut and former international rugby player. Watkins was announced as the first Black woman who will complete an International Space Station long-term missi ...

(born 1988): postdoctoral fellow, California Institute of Technology ** Mission Specialist, SpaceX Crew-4

Canadian partner astronauts

The U.S. astronauts trained alongside two Canadian astronaut candidates: *

Joshua Kutryk Joshua Kutryk (born March 21, 1982) is a Canadian Astronaut Corps, Canadian astronaut, engineer, and pilot. He was selected by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) one of the two members of the 2017 CSA Group alongside Jenni Sidey. Early life and educ ...

(born 1982): LCol,

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

, test pilot, fighter pilot, engineer * Jenni Sidey-Gibbons (born 1988): Mechanical engineer, combustion scientist, and lecturer

References

External links

Turtles class nickname
Lists of astronauts NASA Astronaut Corps {{NASA-stub