NASA’s 2025 Astronaut Candidates Undergo Summer Training at Johnson Space Center

NASA announced its 2025 Astronaut Candidate Class on September 22, 2025 at the Johnson Space Center, unveiling ten new candidates who will begin a demanding training program designed to prepare them for future crewed missions. The announcement marked the first public introduction of the class, which will undergo a series of phases that include rigorous physical conditioning, technical coursework, and extensive survival training.

During the summer preceding the launch of the training cycle, the candidates engaged in a variety of outdoor and aviation activities—camping, hiking, swimming, and aircraft flights—to build teamwork, endurance, and emergency response skills. These experiences form part of NASA’s broader strategy to expose candidates to real‑world challenges that mirror the conditions they may face on long‑duration spaceflight. The training will also cover spacecraft operations, scientific research protocols, and cross‑disciplinary collaboration, ensuring the candidates are well‑rounded for the complex demands of lunar and interplanetary missions.

As the program progresses, NASA will assess the candidates through a series of milestones that determine readiness for selection to flight crews. The 2025 class is expected to complete the initial phases of training by late 2026, positioning them to join future missions that extend humanity’s presence beyond Earth orbit.