A member of NASA’s 2025 astronaut candidate class is from New York’s Hudson Valley, the agency revealed during a ceremony at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on Monday, Sept. 22.
Imelda Muller, who considers Copake Falls in Columbia County her hometown, was selected along with nine other Americans from over 8,000 people who applied in 2024.
“Today, our mission propels us even further as we prepare for our next giant leap with NASA’s newest astronaut candidate class,” says director of NASA Johnson Vanessa Wyche. “Representing America’s best and brightest, this astronaut candidate class will usher in the Golden Age of innovation and exploration as we push toward the Moon and Mars.”
Here’s what to know about the newest NASA astronaut candidate class.
Who is Imelda Muller?
Muller, 34, is one of the youngest candidates in the class and was born in Mineola but considers Copake Falls, where her parents still live, home, according to NASA. She graduated from Taconic Hills High School, has a bachelor’s degree in behavioral neuroscience from Northeastern University and a medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine.
The former U.S. Navy lieutenant served as an undersea medical officer after training at the Naval Undersea Medical Institute in Connecticut in 2019 and provided medical support during Navy operational diving training at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.
Muller also completed her transitional year residency internship at the Naval Medical Center San Diego in 2018 and her anesthesia residency at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine earlier this year.
Who are the other 2025 NASA astronaut candidates?
Muller joins a class of nine other astronaut candidates from all across the U.S. This is the first class of astronaut candidates in four years since 10 astronauts were selected as part of the 2021 class, USA TODAY reported. Here’s who else made the 2025 astronaut candidate class:
NASA currently has 48 active astronauts, according to the agency’s website, and has recruited 370 astronaut candidates since the original Mercury Seven in 1959.
What are the next steps for the NASA astronaut candidates?
All 10 candidates reported for duty at NASA Johnson in mid-September where they’ll complete almost two years of training, NASA says.
The training includes topics like robotics, space medicine and geology as well as taking part in activities like simulated spacewalks and flying high-performance jets, all in preparation for complex operations aboard the Internation Space Station and Artemis missions to the moon and beyond.
After they graduate, they will join the agency’s active astronaut corps and possibly join future science and exploration missions to low Earth orbit, the moon and Mars.
Emily Barnes reports on consumer-related issues for the USA TODAY Network’s New York Connect Team, focusing on scam and recall-related topics. Follow her on X and Instagram @byemilybarnes. Get in touch at ebarnes@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Copake Falls woman Imelda Muller becomes NASA astronaut candidate
Reporting by Emily Barnes, New York Connect Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
