NASA's newest astronauts take a look inside a mockup of the agency's next spaceship, the Crew Exploration Vehicle.

Since 2004, the astronaut candidates studied shuttle and space station systems and underwent rigorous training to prove their mettle for human spaceflight. That hard work paid off this month when all 11 NASA candidates graduated as official astronauts. Three Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronauts also completed training.  

The final piece of the outer shell of a mockup of NASA's new spacecraft concept, the Crew Exploration Vehicle(CEV), is put in place at the agency's Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the Johnson Space Center. Credit: NASA/JSC. Click to enlarge.

Pictured here are (from left): James Dutton Jr., Robert Kimbrough, Thomas Marshburn, Robert Satcher Jr., Randolph Bresnik, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, Christopher Cassidy and Richard Arnold II. NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Joe Acaba and Jose Hernandez – as well as Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Naoko Yamazaki – also graduated with the 2004 class.

The astronauts are likely to be instrumental in developing, testing and flying NASA’s CEV spacecraft, a capsule-based vehicle designed to return human explorers to the Moon and possibly on toward Mars. The vehicle is slated for a dual purpose, which includes ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station, or transporting smaller crews to the Moon. A separate, heavy-lift cargo vehicle – the unmanned Cargo Launch Vehicle – is also under development.

• Lockheed to Assemble CEV in Florida if Chosen by NASA
• NASA's New Moon Plans: 'Apollo on Steroids'
• New Astronaut Candidates to Start Training
• NASA Introduces New Class of 11 Astronauts

-- Tariq Malik

Credit: NASA/JSC.