Naval Academy graduates hope to walk on the moon with the NASA team

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Some children want to be astronauts when they grow up. No Kayla Barron.

He wanted to be a Navy officer, so he did that. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 2010, Barron, 33, earned a master’s degree in nuclear engineering, became a submarine warfare officer, and deployed three times in the Pacific. He then returned to Annapolis to serve as a flag assistant, who is a high-ranking personal assistant to former Superintendent Walter Admiral Walter Carter.

Were it not for this job, Barron may not have become one of the two graduates of the naval academy and former athletes selected for the Artemis Team, who will “lead humanity to the moon and prepare us for in the next giant leap, the exploration of Mars, “says NASA. The mission, announced under the Trump administration, will be NASA’s first trip to the lunar surface in half a century and its goal is to land the next man and first woman in 2024, though experts say the timeline could extend much longer.

Barron and former Navy soccer player Nicole Mann, 43, will be the fifth and sixth graduates of the Naval Academy to visit the moon and the first since 1972.

When Barron applied to become a NASA astronaut, he thought he was sending his name into the void. But as one of the first women in charge of the underwater community, it’s not like she’s unable to reach new heights.

But becoming an astronaut was not something he would have considered if he had not walked in elite circles as an assistant to the superintendent’s flag. It was there that the former runway and background runner met Naval Academy graduate and NASA astronaut Kay Hire, who told him about the construction of the early space station and all the engineering. who entered it.

“The more I listened to his story, the more he sounded like living and working on a submarine,” Barron said. “Living and working in the void of space, the same things can kill you, you need the same things to stay alive. And the most important thing is that you need the same type of equipment to fulfill a mission ”.

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So Barron applied and waited.

Years before, Mann felt a similar way. After being commissioned in 1999, the Lieutenant Colonel of the Marine Corps earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Stanford, recorded 2,500 flight hours on 25 types of aircraft and 47 combat missions in Iraq and the United States. ‘Afghanistan.

But when NASA opened apps, Mann thought it would be too crazy. Her husband, Travis, convinced her that it would be crazy not to try it.

Throughout the one-and-a-half-year interview process that involved a series of trips to Houston, Mann thought, “Holy cow, there’s no way they can pick me.”

“Before (it was like):” This is a great opportunity, I should never let that go. “Then, after that second interview, you would have the feeling of saying,‘ Okay, this is where I feel like I belong, ’” Mann said.

She did belong and in 2013 NASA selected her. Barron reported the astronaut service in 2017.

On December 9, NASA announced that they were among the 18 astronauts chosen to become the Artemis team.

Somehow, they continue to do their former military work but with an astronomical twist. They study how to live and work in space and the mechanics of the International Space Station and spacecraft. They put on space suits, dive into a pool, and take a “space walk” underwater in a space station mock-up for more than six hours.

“I still have the same fundamental sense of fulfillment that (I am) serving our country and working to achieve something for all of humanity that is far greater than (me),” Mann said. “… It’s that deep drive in your heart that really pushes you forward.”

All Artemis rookies expect to be chosen for a space mission before the big one, Barron said. He still doesn’t know if he will be one of them.

Mann, on the other hand, is preparing one now. It is scheduled for the first manned flight test on Starliner, a Boeing capsule that is scheduled to travel to the International Space Station later this year.

Both women know that in a few years they could walk on the moon, a place that only men had stepped on.

They may have to wait more than a few years, as President Biden’s administration and NASA have yet to cross numerous logistical hurdles that are likely to delay the process. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine resigned on January 20 and no new administrator has been appointed under President Biden.

Still, Barron said all the astronauts pinched each morning in their near future.

While men like Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong who walked the moon are legendary people, Barron said space flight is a team sport. It brings together different types of experts to contribute to a common goal.

She sees the mission to the Moon as one more opportunity to contribute to humanity’s greatest goal.

“Look at the moon at night and imagine yourself standing there, looking back at the Earth; your mind is blowing,” Barron said. “… It’s super inspiring and I think it’s something that motivates me to do my best to contribute to the team that will do it, whether I’m on the moon or one of my moon friends looking back ”.

Mann sees his eight-year-old son talk to his friends about his mother and the children’s excitement when he visits schools as a speaker. See how the gears spin in your head and make plans to become astronauts, doctors, engineers, and writers. Put things in perspective.

“I think, I hope, and I think it’s really going to help bring people together, not just in the United States, but all over the world,” Mann said, “because that’s really an international effort. I think it’s going to bring people together on this common goal and in this joint effort “.