credit: NASA
San Diego, California – Katherine Spies has spent her life pushing boundaries — from piloting attack helicopters in combat zones to leading test flights of cutting-edge aircraft. Now the San Diego-based Marine Corps veteran may soon find herself preparing for humanity’s next great leap: missions to the moon, or even Mars.
This week, NASA announced that Spies was one of just 10 people chosen from more than 8,000 applicants for its newest astronaut class. It’s a distinction few ever achieve. Since the days of the Mercury Seven in 1959, only 370 people have been selected. Spies is now among them, part of the 24th class in NASA history and the first to include more women than men.
Born in Mission Viejo but raised largely in San Diego — her mother still lives here — Spies’ path to space reflects both discipline and daring. She graduated from USC with a degree in chemical engineering, later adding a master’s from Harvard in design engineering. In between, she earned her wings as a Marine aviator, flew AH-1 Super Cobras, deployed overseas with multiple expeditionary units, and logged more than 2,000 flight hours, including 300 in combat. After time at Amazon Prime Air developing drone delivery systems and at Gulfstream Aerospace overseeing test flights for advanced jets, she was back on the short list for another frontier.
At a ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA officials framed the moment as not just historic, but urgent. Acting Administrator Sean Duffy told the class they represent “America’s best and brightest,” pointing to geopolitical rivals and promising the U.S. would not cede its leadership in space exploration. “Some are challenging our leadership in space, say like the Chinese,” he said. “We are going to win.”
Spies and her cohort will now begin two years of grueling training in Houston, ranging from survival courses to robotics and spacewalking drills. Only then will they be eligible for flight assignments. The possibilities are profound: NASA hopes to return astronauts to the lunar surface through its Artemis program and is openly talking about preparing the first human missions to Mars.
For Spies, the journey has been long and rooted in service. She followed her father, a retired Marine Corps colonel who passed away in 2013, into military life. Commissioned in 2004, she deployed multiple times, often from San Diego-area bases like Camp Pendleton. Later, she moved into the rarefied world of test pilots, shaping the future of military aircraft. Now, she has a chance to shape something bigger: the future of human spaceflight.
There’s no guarantee where her path will lead — astronaut candidates don’t always get assignments, and space missions are years in the making. But just being named to the corps places Spies in a lineage that stretches from John Glenn to today’s Artemis generation.
