US space agency recruits four women among its eight new candidates, the highest percentage yet selected

The US space agency Nasa has eight new astronauts – its first new batch in four years. Among the lucky candidates are the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut in nearly two decades. A female helicopter pilot also is in the group. In fact, four of the eight are women, the highest percentage of female astronaut candidates ever selected by the organisation.

The announcement came on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the launch of the first American woman into space, Sally Ride. She died last summer.

The eight were chosen from more than 6,000 applications received early last year, the second largest number ever received. They will report for duty in August at Johnson Space Centre in Houston and join 49 astronauts currently working at the agency. The number has dwindled ever since the space shuttles stopped flying in 2011. Many astronauts quit rather than join a lengthy queue for the relatively few slots available for long-term missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The eight have been named as Josh Cassada, 39, and Victor Glover, 37, both naval aviators; Tyler Hague, 37, of the US Air Force; Christina Hammock, 34, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Nicole Aunapu Mann, 35, from the US Marines; Anne McClain, 34, a former helicopter pilot; Jessica Meir PhD, 35, a professor at Harvard University; and Andrew Morgan, 37, a West Point graduate and emergency surgeon for the army.

Charles Bolden, a Nasa administrator, said these new candidates would help lead the first human mission to an asteroid in the 2020s, and then Mars, some time in the following decade. They also may be among the first to fly to the space station aboard commercial spacecraft launched from the US, he noted. Russia is currently ferrying astronauts to and from the ISS.

"These new space explorers asked to join Nasa because they know we're doing big, bold things here – developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," Bolden said in a statement.

"They're excited about the science we're doing on the International Space Station. And they're ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars."