Members of the 11-candidate 2004 class were sworn in during a ceremony held at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in a room that once served as mission control for the Apollo program. Now officially on NASA's books, the astronaut class is preparing for its first round of training.

"I think our class is definitely destined to go to the moon," said Jose Hernandez, an engineer and branch chief at JSC in Houston who was accepted into the new class. "I'm really looking forward to this training, it's an unknown entity to me."

Most of the candidates will begin basic flight training this month at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Pensacola Florida. NASA officials said three members of the new class are already qualified pilots and will begin their training in August. Included among the astronaut candidates are three educators, two spacecraft pilots and six mission specialists, all hoping to play a role in NASA's space vision of sending humans back to the moon and onward to Mars.

"I would go wherever they sent me," said Richard Arnold, one of the class's three educator astronaut candidates and an instructor of grades six through 12. "The overriding goal is to provide a personal connection for the space program.

Most astronauts are engineers or scientists that students and the public may find difficulty relating to, Arnold said. But almost everyone at one time or another has had a teacher they can identify with, he added.

Training alongside NASA's new astronaut class are three astronauts from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), a medical doctor and two engineers.