An F-22 pilot with greater than 200 struggle hours within the Center East is buying and selling puts at the Global Area Station with the primary Area Drive Dad or mum to ever release into orbit.
Air Drive Maj. Nichole Ayers, together with her crewmates, introduced aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carried by means of a Falcon 9 rocket on March 14 and safely arrived on the ISS early March 16.
Area Drive Col. Nick Hague, who arrived on the station closing September, began go back arrangements along with his crewmates March 17 and is scheduled splash down March 18.
Ayers is a part of Staff-10, the newest within the Industrial Staff Program, along fellow NASA astronaut Anne McClain, project specialist Takuya Onishi of Japan, and cosmonaut Kirill Peskov of Russia. In combination, they’re going to participate in Expedition 73 aborad the ISS, accomplishing greater than 200 experiments over the following six months, together with new analysis and era demonstrations aimed toward advancing house exploration and lifestyles on Earth.
“I will’t wait to get to paintings up right here,” Ayers mentioned briefly remarks after she entered the station for the primary time.
Hague was once a part of Staff-9, which integrated handiest him and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov at the manner up, however will upload astronauts Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams for the go back. As a part of Expedition 72 program, they carried out greater than 150 experiments over greater than 900 hours.
“Staff-10 is made up of one of the vital maximum clever, environment friendly, and worrying folks I’ve ever labored with,” Ayers mentioned in a unencumber. “We make an ideal group as a result of we care for every different and again every different up on the whole lot, each operationally and in my view.”
U.S. Air Drive Maj. Nichole Ayers (moment from left) poses along with her SpaceX Staff-10 project group earlier than their scheduled release on March 14, 2025. Ayers was once up to now stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson the place she was once assistant director of operations and an F-22 pilot for the ninetieth Fighter squadron in 2021. NASA/Invoice Stafford/Helen Arase Vargas
The previous struggle pilot says she has lengthy dreamed of turning into an astronaut, impressed by means of the Area Commute program that performed a key function in establishing and servicing the ISS, the most important man-made house construction on orbit.
“As a kid, I at all times cherished flying and house and grew up all through the Commute generation,” recalled Ayers. “After I realized you must fly the Area Commute, I knew I sought after to be a pilot within the Air Drive and pursue my goals of turning into a NASA astronaut thru that trail.”
Ayers finished pilot coaching in 2014 and started flying the T-38A at Langley Air Drive Base, Va. As an teacher pilot, she led struggle coaching missions for F-22 Raptor pilots. She logged over 200 struggle hours with the Raptor all through Operation Inherent Get to the bottom of—the marketing campaign towards the Islamic State workforce throughout Syria and Iraq—and gathered greater than 1,400 flight hours within the T-38 and F-22.
“My time within the Air Drive ready me neatly for this project,” she mentioned. “Caring for your teammates in opposed or austere environments is one thing each Airman learns during their profession.”
Her newest function within the carrier earlier than formally becoming a member of NASA in 2021 was once serving because the assistant director of operations for the ninetieth Fighter Squadron, which oversees the Raptor fleet at Elmendorf Air Drive Base, Alaska.
“Maximum of my coaching has been within the operational realm; studying to make split-second choices beneath intense force is a talent we be told during our time as Air Drive pilots,” mentioned Ayers. “We educate for the worst and hope for the most productive—coaching to visit the Global Area Station isn’t any other.”
A Falcon 9 rocket launches the Staff Dragon’s tenth operational human spaceflight project to the Global Area Station from Release Advanced 39A at Kennedy Area Heart, Florida, March 14, 2025. This project additionally permits the go back of NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, together with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and U.S. Area Drive Col. Nick Hague, the primary Area Drive Dad or mum to release into house. U.S. Area Drive picture by means of Airman 1st Magnificence Collin Wesson
Many NASA astronauts come from army backgrounds, together with dozens from the Air Drive, however it has been a number of years since an Airman was once in orbit.
Elementary necessities for changing into an astronaut come with top bodily situation, confirmed management, a grasp’s stage in a STEM box, and no less than 3 years {of professional} enjoy—or, for pilots, 1,000 hours within the cockpit, with 850 of the ones in high-performance jets. Ayers holds a grasp’s in computational and implemented arithmetic from Rice College, following her bachelor’s from the Air Drive Academy.
After that, applicants go through intense opinions earlier than being decided on. Hague, for instance, mentioned it took him 10 years and two rejections earlier than he was a NASA astronaut.
As soon as decided on, astronauts then tackle two years of coaching to grasp spacewalking, robot arm keep an eye on, and flying T-38 jets—one thing Ayers already has down. Because the Sixties, NASA has maintained a fleet of T-38 Talon twin-engine jet running shoes to refine applicants’ precision maneuvers and emergency procedures.
“I completely cherished each minute of my time on the Air Drive Academy and during my whole flying profession within the T-38A and F-22,” mentioned Ayers. “Representing the ones communities and the Air Drive as an entire as we embark on our project to the Global Area Station is actually particular and considered one of my largest honors.”
Hague, in the meantime, will go back to Earth after reaching a ancient milestone for the younger Area Drive. Col. Mike Hopkins was the primary Dad or mum in house when he transferred into the carrier aboard the ISS in 2020, however no Area Drive member had ever introduced into orbit earlier than Hague.
