San Diego native Katherine Spies was introduced Monday as one of NASA’s newest astronauts, joining nine other scientists, engineers and test pilots heading to the moon and possibly Mars.
More than 8,000 people applied. The six women and four men will undergo two years of training before becoming eligible for spaceflight.
Spies (pronounced SPEES) — who took the stage at 10:17 in the video above — is a former AH-1 attack helicopter pilot and Marine Corps test pilot with more than 2,000 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft — including 300 hours in combat.
“In the next two years of astronaut candidate training, the thing that I’m super pumped about is learning the language of human spaceflight,” Spies, 43, said at the class reveal at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The first manned Artemis mission — a trip around the moon but with no landing — is expected no earlier than April 2026. Lunar missions would splashdown off San Diego.
NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy said one of the 10 could become the first human to step on Mars. He also stressed that the U.S. will win this second race to land on the moon.
“You are America’s best and brightest, and we’re going to need America’s best and brightest because we have a bold exploration plan for the future,” Duffy said at Monday’s ceremony.
“Some are challenging our leadership in space, say like the Chinese … We are going to win.”
A graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland, Spies holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from USC and a master’s in design engineering from Harvard University.
At the time of her selection, she worked for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. as the director of flight test engineering.
Spies was born in Mission Viejo but considers San Diego her hometown. Her mother, Jeanie Spies, lives in San Diego. Her father, Harry Spies, a retired Marine Corps colonel, died in 2013 and is interred at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
She is an avid runner and backcountry skier who enjoys painting and sharing adventures with family and friends.
Spies pursued a year of solo global travel through the Balkans, Southwest China, Southeast Asia and the Arctic Circle. She later worked as an alpine ski instructor in Utah, earning Professional Ski Instructors of America Level I certification.
- Katherine Spies during NASA unveiling
- ABC10 Interview with Katherine Spies
- Biographical info on 10 new astronauts
Spies was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps in 2004 after earning her bachelor’s degree.
She completed The Basic School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and flight training in Pensacola, Florida, earning her Naval Aviator wings in 2006.
She trained as an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Training Squadron 303 before beginning her operational career with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 267 at Camp Pendleton.
After being promoted to captain in 2008, Spies completed overseas deployments with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the USS Peleliu, supporting operations in various regions, including the Middle East.
She later served with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, working across parts of Asia and the Pacific. In 2011, she was stationed abroad with I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).
Spies continues to serve as a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve.
Following her active military service, Spies joined Amazon Prime Air as a developmental flight test and engineering leader, where she built comprehensive evaluation frameworks for autonomous drone delivery systems.
At the time of her selection, she worked with Gulfstream Aerospace as the director of flight test engineering, leading the certification and flight test programs for the company’s G700 and G800 aircraft.
Academically, Spies received the Ronald G. Minet Award for Best Design Project and Charles J. Rebert Chemical Engineering Outstanding Service Award at USC.
She finished in the top 5% at Officer Candidate School, earned the Commodore’s Award for Academic Achievement during flight school and was selected as a Harvard Graduate School Leadership Initiative Fellow.
In the military, she earned the Air Medal (five awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two stars, NATO Medal for service in Afghanistan, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and multiple unit commendations.
For the first time, more women than men are in an incoming astronaut class. They included a geologist who worked on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover and a SpaceX engineer who’s already rocketed into orbit, flying on a billionaire-sponsored mission that featured the world’s first private spacewalk last year.
It is the 24th astronaut class for NASA since the original Mercury Seven made their debut in 1959. The previous class was in 2021.
Only 370 people have been selected by NASA as astronauts, making it an extraordinarily small and elite group composed mostly of men. The latest additions will join 41 active U.S. astronauts currently serving in the corps.
NASA’s flight operations director Norm Knight said competition was stiff and called the newcomers “distinguished” and “exceptional.”
They include several military pilots, a former SpaceX launch director and a medical doctor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
