In September 2025, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced its 10 newest astronauts, who were selected to be sent to new space stations, the moon, and maybe even Mars.
Of the 10 chosen, six were women. This is the first time that women have ever outnumbered men in a class of astronauts since NASA began seeking applications in 1959.
“One of these 10 could actually be one of the first Americans to put their boots on the Mars surface, which is very, very cool,” Sean Duffy, the acting NASA administrator, said during a ceremony for the new class of astronauts.
“More than 8,000 people applied — scientists, pilots, engineers, dreamers from every corner of this nation,” Duffy continued.
“The 10 men and women sitting here today embody the truth that in America, regardless of where you start, there is no limit to what a determined dreamer can achieve — even going to space.”
This class of astronauts was selected after Donald Trump began his second presidential term and eliminated most diversity efforts across the federal government, including NASA.
However, the application process for this cohort began during the Biden administration, with more than 8,000 people in the running. Though the new group appears to be less racially diverse than past classes, officials seem to be encouraged by the gender diversity of the latest crew.
One of the new recruits, Anna Menon, has already made history in space. As a crew member of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn, she and her crewmate set a new record for the highest altitude reached by any female astronaut.
“Space is the ultimate team sport,” Menon said in a video for Texas Christian University. “It takes people from around the world with so many different cultures, and especially so many different areas of expertise, coming together to explore the stars.”
Christina Koch, another NASA astronaut — though not a new recruit — has been selected as one of four astronauts to participate in the Artemis II launch, which is set for early April.
Koch is an explorer and engineer who became an astronaut in 2013. She has served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station for three expeditions and set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, for a total of 328 days in space. She also participated in the first all-female spacewalk.
And this week, she will make history again.
For the first time in 54 years, the Artemis II mission will bring NASA astronauts to the moon, where they will go on a 10-day journey around the moon, known as a lunar fly-by, according to ABC News.
This 685,000 mile trip, taken by four astronauts, will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, and could pave the way for future Artemis missions — and maybe even a permanent lunar base.
Koch will become the first woman to orbit the moon, and will be joined by three male astronauts: Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman of NASA, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.
“It feels like an incredible privilege and responsibility,” Koch told Space.com about the Artemis II mission.
But, she added, the milestone is not just hers.
“I think for me, [Artemis II] comes down to not being any single individual's accomplishments. The accomplishment that we can celebrate together is that we got here,” she told Space.com.
“Decades ago, we made the right decisions so that our astronaut corps brings diverse backgrounds together to solve the hardest problems. And that, to me, is what's truly worth celebrating, and what I’m honored to be a part of.”
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A version of this article was originally published in The 2026 Feminist Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image courtesy of NASA
