By MARCIA DUNN, Editor AP Aerospace

CAP CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – NASA on Monday selected 10 new astronauts, half of whom are military pilots, as it considers the Moon and Mars.

The space agency introduced the six men and four women at a ceremony in Houston, home of Mission Control and the Astronaut Corps.

More than 12,000 applied for the coveted places. The 10 selected are between 30 and 40 years old and must complete two years of training before becoming eligible for spaceflight.

In addition to combat and test pilots, candidate astronauts include a medical physicist, a drilling specialist, a marine roboticist, a NASA-turned-SpaceX flight surgeon, and a bioengineer who was a cycling champion. Two astronauts from the United Arab Emirates will train with them.

One of the pilots – Air Force Major Marcos Berrios, from Puerto Rico – volunteered in a question-and-answer session to fly a life-size successor to NASA’s mini helicopter to Mars.

“I know Deniz, the other helicopter pilot here, and I would love to take him for a ride for science,” he said, eliciting laughter and applause from the audience.

Marine Lt. Deniz Burnham, an Alaskan, manages drilling projects across North America.

NASA has accepted 360 people into its astronaut corps since the first Mercury Seven in 1959. The previous selection of astronauts took place in 2017.

With SpaceX sending astronauts to the International Space Station and other private companies throwing tourists on short trips, and NASA’s Artemis moon landing program on the horizon, “we’re in the golden age right now. human spaceflight, ”said NASA chief astronaut Reid Wiseman. .

NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon no earlier than 2025.

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