NASA Astronaut Group 22

NASA Astronaut Group 22 (nicknamed "The Turtles") is a group of twelve astronauts selected in June 2017.

The Turtles
NASA Astronaut Group 22 in September 2019
Year selected2017
Number selected12

History
Group patch

NASA announced the creation of this astronaut group in November 2015 and accepted applications for astronaut hires from December 2015 through February 2016.[1] A record number of applications - over 18,300 - were received. The final group of twelve selected candidates was publicly announced on June 7, 2017.[2] The class was introduced at a press conference at the Johnson Space Center by U. S. Vice President Mike Pence. The ages of the seven men and five women ranged from 29 to 42 at the time of announcement.

The Group 22 Astronaut Candidates arrived at the Johnson Space Center in Houston 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.[3]

The group earned their "Turtles" nickname after experiencing flooding from Hurricane Harvey shortly after arriving at NASA.[4] The name was chosen by the preceding astronaut group, "The 8-Balls", according to NASA traditions.

Candidates

Canadian Partner Astronauts

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

References
  1. http://astronauts.nasa.gov/content/timeline.htm
  2. NASA. "NASA's Newest Astronaut Recruits to Conduct Research off the Earth, For the Earth and Deep Space Missions". NASA. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  3. Grush, Loren. "NASA's newest astronaut class, the Turtles, become eligible for space missions". The Verge. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  4. "'Turtles' on a really high post: NASA's new astronauts get their nickname | collectSPACE". collectSPACE.com. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  5. "NASA astronaut candidate resigns prior to qualifying for spaceflight", collectSPACE, August 27, 2018.
  6. "2017 Astronaut Candidates Available for Interviews Before Training". NASA. 2017-08-16.
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