After logging more than 2,800 flight hours in over 45 different aircraft, Rebecca Lawler, ENG ’18 (MS), was one of six women and four men selected from a field of more than 8,000 applicants to join NASA’s 2025 Astronaut Candidate Class.
Lawler, who received her degree in Space Systems Engineering through the Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals program, is now at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where she will undergo two years of training to be eligible to join NASA’s active astronaut corps and participate in flight assignments supporting future science and exploration missions to low Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.
Lawler is an experienced military and civilian test pilot. While serving in the U.S. Navy, she deployed twice to the U.S. Sixth Fleet and accumulated more than 300 hours of combat flight time. She also served as a hurricane hunter with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and was a P-3 Orion research pilot during NASA’s Operation IceBridge. At the time of her selection, she was a test pilot for United Airlines.