Local cottagers over the moon that their son was chosen as a NASA astronaut candidate

Katrina Boguski
Freelance

Madawaska Valley– In at statement released by NASA, it was announced that 10 new astronaut candidates were chosen from more than 12,000 highly accomplished applicants. Members of the 2021 astronaut class, which is the first new class in four years, were introduced on Dec. 6 by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The event was held at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Among the six men and four women on the platform was 38-year-old Christopher Williams, who has been a lifelong cottager in the Madawaska Valley.

At this celebration Nelson said, “Today we welcome 10 new explorers, 10 members of the Artemis generation, NASA’s 2021 astronaut candidate class,” He added, “Alone, each candidate has ‘the right stuff,’ but together they represent the creed of our country: E pluribus unum – out of many, one.”

The astronaut candidates will undergo two years of training beginning in January. The training consists of five major areas including: “operating and maintaining the International Space Station’s complex systems, training for spacewalks, developing complex robotics skills, safely operating a T-38 training jet, and Russian language skills.”

According to a statement from NASA, once their training is complete, they could be selected to work “…on missions that involve performing research aboard the space station, launching from American soil on spacecraft built by commercial companies, as well as deep space missions to destinations including the Moon on NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.”

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