The astronauts will earn between $64,000 and $141,000 per year, and will be part of the team that lays the groundwork for NASA missions to an asteroid¹（小行星） in the 2020s and to Mars in the 2030s, NASA administrator² Charles Bolden said.

 

"This new class will be among those who have the opportunity to plan and carry out these exciting missions," said Bolden in a video message on the NASA website.

 

The eight were chosen from the second largest pool of applications ever received -- over 6,100 -- NASA said.

 

Among them are Nicole Aunapu Mann, 35, a Marine³ Corps⁴ major and F/A 18 pilot; and Anne McClain, 34, a major in the US Army and OH-58 helicopter pilot.

 

The others are Jessica Meir, 35, an assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Christina Hammock, 34, who is National Oceanographic and Atmospheric⁵ Administration (NOAA) Station Chief in American Samoa.

 

The male astronaut candidates are former naval⁶ aviator⁷ Josh Cassada, 39; Navy lieutenant⁸ commander and F/A 18 pilot Victor Glover, 37; Tyler Hague, 37, a US Air Force colonel working to tackle improvised⁹ explosive devices; and Andrew Morgan, 37, an army major and physician of emergency medicine.

 

The last class announced in 2009 included three women. The group of astronauts named in 1998 also included four women, but out of a larger hired group of 25.

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