First woman, next man on moon will come from these NASA 18
Cape Canaveral (US), Dec 10: NASA has named the 18 astronauts half of them women who will train for its Artemis moon-landing programme.
The first woman and next man on the moon will come from this elite group.
Vice President Mike Pence introduced the astronauts on Wednesday at the close of his final meeting as chairman of the National Space Council. The announcement was made at Florida's Kennedy Space Centre, beneath one of only three remaining Saturn V moon rockets from the 1960s and 1970s Apollo programme.
My fellow Americans, I give you the heroes of the future who will carry us back to the moon and beyond, the Artemis generation, Pence told the small crowd, seated several feet apart from one another.
Five of the astronauts, the only ones in attendance walked onto the stage, waving and wearing masks.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine stressed there would be more astronauts joining the group. NASA has 47 active astronauts.
The space agency is aiming for a moon landing by 2024, although the chances of that happening are growing increasingly dim. The upcoming change in administration also adds uncertainty.
Half of the NASA astronauts have spaceflight experience. Two are at the International Space Station right now: Kate Rubins and Victor Glover.
The two astronauts who performed the world's first all-female spacewalk last year made the cut: Christina Koch and Jessica Meir.
It's a fairly young group, with most in their 30s or 40s. The oldest is 55, the youngest 32. Only two Joe Acaba and Stephanie Wilson flew on NASA's old space shuttles.
The other experienced members on the list include Kjell Lindgren, Anne McClain and Scott Tingle, both former space station residents.
Among those yet to rocket into space: Kayla Barron, Raja Chari, Matthew Dominick, Woody Hoburg, Jonny Kim, Nicole Mann, Jasmin Moghbeli, Frank Rubio and Jessica Watkins.
"My fellow Americans, I give you the heroes of the future who'll carry us back to the Moon and beyond - the Artemis generation." - @VP Pence introduces the #Artemis team of 18 @NASA_Astronauts, including 5 attending the Space Council, who'll prepare us for missions to the Moon. pic.twitter.com/NyocHHlf2v
— Moonbound with #Artemis (@NASA) December 9, 2020
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Congress names candidates for 8 Haryana LS seats, fields Kumari Selja, Deepender Hooda
Chandigarh (PTI): The Congress on Thursday announced candidates for eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it is contesting in Haryana, fielding former Union minister Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda and youth leader Divyanshu Budhiraja, besides two sitting MLAs.
The party has also fielded former MP Jai Prakash and leaders Satpal Brahmachari and Mahendra Pratap, according to the list released late Thursday evening.
The Congress is contesting nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. It has not yet announced its candidate for the Gurugram constituency.
The Aam Aadmi Party, a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc, will contest the Kurukshetra seat.
Congress general secretary and former Union minister Selja will contest from the Sirsa (reserved) seat and sitting MLAs Varun Choudhary and Rao Dan Singh from the Ambala (reserved) and the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats, respectively.
Deepender Hooda, son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will enter the fray from Rohtak. He has represented the Rohtak parliamentary constituency three times in the past.
Jai Prakash has been fielded from Hisar, the Congress' Haryana youth wing president Divanshu Budhiraja from Karnal, Satpal Brahmachari from Sonipat and Mahendra Pratap from Faridabad.
