HOUSTON, Texas – The Johnson Space Center welcomed 12 new astronauts – 10 Americans and two from the United Arab Emirates – after the class completed a two-year training program through NASA. These astronauts will be assigned missions to the International Space Station and future commercial space stations, and will also focus on missions to the moon in preparation for Mars. Luke Delaney, a retired United States Marine Corps major from DeBary, Florida, said graduating from the program was a dream – for some, a dream that was decades in the making. Ten American astronauts and two United Arab Emirates astronauts recently graduated after completing a two-year training through NASA. When putting on his spacesuit, Delaney said he felt like he made it.

NASA inaugurated its 23rd class of new astronauts on Monday, which includes 10 individuals who are set to walk on the moon and maybe even Mars. Deemed the'Artemis Generation,' this group consists of several former US military, an ex-SpaceX medical director and a bioengineer who also participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a track cyclist. The name is a reference to NASA's Artemis program, which aims to send the first woman and the first person of color to moon as early as 2025. The astronaut candidates for 2021 are: Nichole Ayers, Marcos Berríos, Guaynabo, Christina Birch, Deniz Burnham, Luke Delaney, Andre Douglas, Jack Hathaway, Anil Menon, Christopher Williams and Jessica Wittner. This is NASA first new class in four years and the group is set to begin the two-year training process in January 2022.