WEST LAFAYETTE – Loral O’Hara gave a thumbs up and huge smile from the stage at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Friday morning as she became the newest NASA astronaut with a Purdue University degree.

O’Hara was among 11 who graduated after two years of training as the first class of astronaut candidates in the Artemis program, which aims to send “the first woman and the next man,” as NASA says, to the moon by 2024 with hopes of using that as a step toward sending astronauts to Mars.

That puts O’Hara in line to potentially follow in the footsteps of fellow Purdue graduate, Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.

During her introductions during Friday’s ceremonies, her fellow graduate, Frank Rubio, called O’Hara “tough as nails” and that “she can run any of us into the ground,” as she was presented with her astronaut pin.

The ceremonies also included two Canadian Space Agency astronaut candidates.

HER BACKGROUND: O’Hara is a Houston native who found her way to Wes Lafayette after earning a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Kansas. At Purdue, O’Hara earned a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics in 2009. According to the university, she was part of the first all-woman team in the rocket propulsion facilities at the Zucrow Laboratory.

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When she was named an astronaut candidate in 2017, picked from more than 18,000 applications, O’Hara told the J&C that she had been a coach for the Purdue Crew team and was part of the Purdue Triathlon Club.

Before joining NASA, O’Hara was a research engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, working on the engineering, test, and operations of deep-ocean research submersibles and robots, according to her bio at NASA.

When she was named an astronaut candidate, she told the J&C: “I was one of those kids. … I wanted to be an astronaut for as long as I can remember.”

With Friday's graduation class, NASA has 48 men and women in its active astronaut corps.

PURDUE'S LEGACY IN SPACE: O’Hara is the 24th NASA astronaut with a degree from Purdue, which considers itself “The Cradle of Astronauts.” She joins a Purdue corps that includes Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan, Gus Grissom and Jerry Ross.

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O’Hara is the third woman from Purdue to become a NASA astronaut, following Janice Voss and Mary Ellen Weber.

Purdue graduate Beth Moses makes Purdue's astronaut corps number 25, as part of Virgin Galactic, becoming the first female commercial astronaut in 2019.

Reach Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.