Washington sources have stated that after screening a record 18,000 applications, the US space agency has finally picked 12 astronaut candidates its largest astronaut class since 2000 and Indian-American Raja Chari, a Lieutenant Colonel with the US Air Force, has bagged a most sought after seat.



Sources have added that the selected 12 eight men and four women will be trained for missions into the Earth orbit and conduct key research for deep space missions. Chari, who will report for duty in August this year, graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1999 with bachelor’s degrees in astronautical engineering and engineering science.

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It was stated when hailing from the state of Iowa and he earned a Master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School as well as from US Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.



Chari, a father of three, is a commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron and director of the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California and moreover he has accumulated more than 2,000 hours of flight time in F-35, F-15, F-16, and F-18, including F-15E combat missions in ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ and deployments in support of the Korean peninsula. The 12 new candidates include six military officers, three scientists, two medical doctors, a lead engineer at SpaceX and a NASA research pilot.


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