The US Aerospace Administration ( NASA) has just officially introduced 10 new astronauts at a solemn ceremony at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. These are the faces carefully selected from more than 12,000 applications, marking an important milestone in the effort to realize the ambition of conquering the space of the US.
According to NASA, this new generation of astronauts will play a core role in the Artemis program - the plan to bring people back to the Moon for the first time since 1972 and build the foundation for long-haul flights to Mars. The agency expects the addition of a young, diverse and highly skilled workforce to help the US maintain its advantage in the face of increasingly fierce competition in the space sector, especially from China.
The list of 10 selected people includes engineers, doctors, scientists and military pilots, many of whom are women. They will undergo a rigorous training course lasting more than 2 years, including zero-gravity exercises, survival training in harsh conditions, spacecraft simulation and exposure to space life support systems.
The NASA leader emphasized: Each new generation of astronauts not only adds human resources but also reflects the determination of the United States to maintain its leading position in space exploration. Future astronauts will not only participate in flights to the International Space Station (ISS) but also directly participate in the Artemis III mission - a lunar landing mission expected this decade.
The announcement of the new crew of astronauts comes as the world witnessed an increasingly hot space race. China is pushing for a lunar base construction program and Mars missions, while many other countries are also investing heavily in space technology. This makes the incident of NASA recruiting more astronauts even more a signal that the US does not want to lose its pioneering role.
The new astronauts are expected to become a symbol of the next generation of exploration - a place that humans not only visit, but also place a long-term presence on the Moon, before stepping towards Mars. This is considered an inevitable step in the strategy of expanding the range of humanity's survival beyond Earth.
