University of Alabama grad among historic graduating class of astronaut candidates

NASA will honor the first-ever class of astronaut candidates to graduate under the Artemis program next month at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and there is one graduate that has a strong tie to the Yellowhammer State.

After completing more than two years of basic training, 11 NASA and two Canadian Space Agency candidates will become eligible for spaceflight, including assignments to the International Space Station and missions under the Artemis program — which is set to return Americans to the surface of the Moon and subsequently aims to take the first humans to Mars.

The 11 NASA candidates in the historic graduating class were selected from a pool of over 18,000 applicants. At the January 10 ceremony, each candidate will receive an astronaut pin, marking their graduation from basic training and their eligibility to be selected to fly in space.

Included in the class is Bob Hines, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel.

Hines has a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Boston University and a master’s degree in flight test engineering from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB. According to a release from NASA, he also served as a developmental test pilot on all models of the F-15 while earning a master’s in aerospace engineering from the University of Alabama. He has deployed in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Prior to being selected as an astronaut, he was a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight test pilot and a NASA research pilot at Johnson.

The Artemis program overall is also tied in major ways to Alabama.

This includes Dr. Lisa Watson-Morgan, a Huntsville native, being named program manager for the Human Landing System, which is being managed out of Marshall Space Flight Center. In her role, Watson-Morgan is tasked with the rapid development of the lander that will safely carry the first woman and the next man to the Moon’s surface in 2024.

She will further oversee lunar landing system integration with the Orion deep-space crew vehicle, launched by the Huntsville-managed Space Launch System (SLS), that will carry Artemis explorers to and from the Gateway lunar orbital platform. From the Gateway, which also will feature significant contributions from Alabama, explorers will board the lunar landing system for missions to the surface of the Moon.

Watson-Morgan graduated from the University of Alabama in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. She also received a master’s degree in industrial and systems engineering in 1994 and a doctorate in engineering management in 2008, both from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn