HOUSTON, Texas — Florida native Luke Delaney became one of NASA’s newest astronauts Tuesday. He graduated at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, alongside nine other U.S. candidates. Two UAE candidates also graduated.
After more than two years of rigorous training, Delaney walked across the graduation stage. He says he became interested in space at a young age.
“I grew up in Central Florida, so I was watching shuttle launches and had a lot of exposure to the space industry," he said. "I think at some level down there, when you live close enough, you see the launches (and it) really piques your interest."
The biggest challenge to becoming an astronaut, he said, was not knowing how to get there. After high school, Delaney went on to earn degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He served as a naval aviator, and later as a research pilot at NASA’s Langley Research Center.
Delaney actually applied to the NASA Astronaut training program twice. The second time was the charm, and he was selected for the 2021 class.
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“Don’t be afraid to fail. You’re going to try things that are going to be hard, and it’s okay if you fail. It’s just how you how you pick yourself up and how you go forward," he said. "So, I feel like a lot of it for me was just pursuing my passions for aviation, Marine Corps service, engineering, all those passions, just kind of lined up."
Over the past couple years, the astronaut class did everything from studying space station systems to flying jets, and completing water survival and wilderness trainings.
“I hadn’t done much, if anything, in Wyoming from a training capacity before, and the Outdoor Leadership School that they run out there put us out in the wilderness in the mountains of Wyoming for at least 10 days, I think," Delaney said. "And we covered like 30 miles from a drop off point to a pickup point."
All of that work culminated Tuesday as one by one, Delaney and his classmates crossed the graduation stage, officially receiving the title of astronaut. Now that he’s earned his wings, Delaney said, with so much going on in the space industry, it’s tough to say what his dream mission would be.
“This is a question that’s hard for me to pin down because there’s just, you got low Earth orbits becoming so busy these days and commercial entities looking to explore and establish space stations up there, so I could see a path where you know, NASA support in some capacity commercial entities up there. I think the lunar mission is super exciting,” he said.
NASA is now accepting applications for a new class. Applications close April 2nd. Details and qualifications can be found on NASA.GOV.
