Today, NASA welcomed 12 new graduates as the next generation of candidates eligible for spaceflight. NASA has shared photos of the NASA graduates on their Flickr site and we wanted to share those with you! The new NASA graduates are Nichole Ayers, Marcos Berríos, Christina Birch, Deniz Burnham, Luke Delaney, Andrew Douglas, Jack Hathaway, Anil Menon, Christopher Williams and Jessica Wittner. Also graduating in this group, from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, are United Arab Emirates astronaut candidates, Nora AlMatrooshi and Mohammed AlMulla.
The recent graduates completed over two years of basic training. In that time they focused on a variety of areas relevant to space exploration preparation including, spacewalking training, robotics, space station training along with other speciality training programs. With training complete, the graduates are now eligible to be considered for a variety of NASA assignments including participation for future missions to the Moon, assignments to the International Space Station and more. You may even be looking at a future mission to Mars candidate!
Meet the 10 new NASA Graduates!
Class Wilderness Survival Training at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. Photo Date: February 7, 2022. Credit: Robert Markowitz
Learn more about the graduates, their accomplishments and the Artemis program on NASA’s official site! Also, make sure to check out NASA’s Johnson Space Center Flickr site for more photos featuring the new astronauts. Congratulations to the grads!
Dreaming big?
Ever daydream about becoming an astronaut? Following the recent graduation celebrations, NASA is kicking off their astronaut recruitment program. The next headshot in a NASA Flickr album could be yours! See what it takes to become an astronaut and if you think you may qualify, sky’s the limit!
Heads up!
While we are talking about things ahead, a major event in the sky is coming our way. On April 8th, a total solar eclipse will occur and be visible to parts of Canada, across the United States and parts of Mexico. The next solar eclipse, following next month’s event, isn’t expected to happen again until August of 2044, so it is definitely worth catching it this time around. With over a month before the big day, now is a great time to learn more about the path of totality as well as how you can safely view and photograph this amazing site.
At Flickr, we are keeping a close eye on the skies as well – with the protection of suitable safety equipment of course, and safety is a top priority when preparing to view a solar eclipse. Remember, it is NOT safe to look at the Sun directly without special safety glasses. One thing to note as well, according to NASA, is that even with safety glasses, one should not look through a camera lens, telescope or other device as the concentrated rays can burn through the safety glass filters. With that said, now is the time to make sure you have the right equipment on hand for the big show. NASA has you covered! You can find a quick guide to safety tips on their site. Also check out this site to get an idea of the type of safety equipment available for viewing and photographing the upcoming solar eclipse safely.
We have some fun content planned for next month and will also be putting a call out for your own solar eclipse captures so make sure to get that equipment ready and figure out where you can find the best view, near you. If you would like to find some inspiration from previous eclipses, make sure to check out NASA’s Flickr site and search total solar eclipse!
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