By KATHERINE FOMINYKH | The Capital, Annapolis, Md. | Published: February 2, 2021 ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Tribune News Service) Some kids want to be astronauts when they grow up. Not Kayla Barron. She wanted to be a Naval officer, so that s what she did. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 2010, Barron, 33, earned a master s degree in nuclear engineering, became a submarine warfare officer and was deployed three times to the Pacific. Then, she returned to Annapolis to serve as a flag aide, which is a personal assistant to a high-ranking official, to former Superintendent Vice Adm. Walter Carter. If not for that job, Barron may not have become one of two Naval Academy graduates and former athletes to be selected for the Artemis Team, which will lead humanity forward to the moon and prepare us for the next giant leap, the exploration of Mars, NASA says. The mission, announced under the Trump administration, will be NASA s first voyage to the lunar surface in half a century and
Bill Ingalls / NASA
Astronaut Kayla Barron was one of the first women commissioned as a submarine warfare officer in the US Navy. Now, she’s part of another groundbreaking group, NASA’s Artemis Team.
This hour, we talk with Barron about her training for the next set of missions to return to the moon. The Artemis Program aims to put the first woman on the moon in coming years.
GUESTS:
NASA Astronaut Kayla Barron - Member of NASA’s Artemis team; she’s also a Navy Lieutenant Commander and Submarine Warfare Officer
Cathryn Prince - Visiting assistant professor of journalism at SUNY Purchase and author of the nonfiction book
Presidential transition, weak funding put 2024 moon landing goal in doubt
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NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine (C) gets a tour of the B-2 Test Stand on a work platform between the four RS-25 engines of the first core stage of the agency’s Space Launch System rocket at the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis early lat year. File Photo by Joel Kowsky/NASA
NASA s 212-foot-high core stage of the Space Launch System rocket towers over a test stand at Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi, where the agency is weeks behind its original goals to test fire the vehicle. Photo courtesy of NASA
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) In 2020, NASA made significant progress on America’s Moon to Mars exploration strategy, met mission objectives for the Artemis program, achieved significant scientific advancements to benefit humanity, and returned human spaceflight capabilities to the United States, all while agency teams acted quickly to assist the national COVID-19 response.
“NASA has impressed the nation with our resilience and persistence during the pandemic,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “We made history with a U.S. commercial partner, made groundbreaking discoveries, advanced science, furthered aeronautics research and technology development, and even joined in the fight against COVID-19. We met an incredibly challenging year with incredible achievements and established a path for continued success.”
NASA Discoveries, R&D, Moon to Mars Exploration Plans Persevere in 2020
In 2020, NASA made significant progress on America s Moon to Mars exploration strategy, met mission objectives for the Artemis program, achieved significant scientific advancements to benefit humanity, and returned human spaceflight capabilities to the United States, all while agency teams acted quickly to assist the national COVID-19 response. NASA has impressed the nation with our resilience and persistence during the pandemic, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. We made history with a U.S. commercial partner, made groundbreaking discoveries, advanced science, furthered aeronautics research and technology development, and even joined in the fight against COVID-19. We met an incredibly challenging year with incredible achievements and established a path for continued success.