The newest NASA space class team includes 12 members, 5 of which are women.
Jasmin Moghbeli, a German-born Queens native, was chosen as part of the new NASA space class team. She and other 11 pilots, engineers and scientists were selected by NASA to train as astronauts. This is the first NASA space class team since 2013.
Jasmin is One 5 Women in the New NASA Space Class Team
From 18,353 applicants, only 12 were chosen. Out of those 12, 5 are women, Jasmin being one of them. She, as a child, always dreamt of the stars. And during her sixth grade, she did a book report on Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly into space.
Jasmin Moghbeli, after finding out that she is going to attend a 2-year traineeship as part of the NASA space class team, said that:
“I dressed up as her in school. From then on [being an astronaut] was something that I wanted to do”.
And she even attended a space camp in Huntsville, Alabama. But she did not dream only of stars, while also attending Broadway class. However, her road to the newest NASA space class team was not easy. She has an MIT diploma and, on top of that, three Marine deployments.
She graduated from Baldwin Senior High and then headed to MIT. During college, she trained with the Marine Corps’ Platoon Leadership Program. She was a second lieutenant, intent on becoming a jet pilot. However, she followed a pursuit on flying the AH-1W “Whiskey Cobra” attack helicopter during flight school.
After graduation, she was deployed to Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Asia. Until being accepted in the newest NASA star class team, she flew Cobras on reconnaissance and air support.
Although the shuttle era culminated in 2011, Jasmine Moghbeli still is of the opinion that there are still many things to do on or for Earth as an astronaut.
Image Source: Flickr
