HOUSTON, United States (Reuters) – United States Vice President Mike Pence congratulated America’s newest astronaut candidates at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Wednesday (June 7).
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the candidates were chosen from a pool of 18,000 applicants “to carry the torch for future human space exploration.”
Pence described the NASA candidates as “elites” who carry “the hopes and dreams of the American people.”
“The new astronaut candidates could one day be performing research on the International Space Station, launching from American soil aboard spacecraft built by American companies, and traveling to the moon or even Mars with the help of NASA’s new Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket,” according to a NASA press release.
Following his remarks, Pence toured the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center.