NASA has announced its newest class of astronaut candidates added and includes a Kentuckian, 34 year old Aaron over cash.

A U.S.

Navy lieutenant commander from Oldham County, was one of ten candidates selected, according to NASA.

More than 8000 people applied.

We got the opportunity to speak with over cash the day of the announcement, she shared how she reacted when she found out she made the cut, and how growing up in Kentucky helped put her on the path to becoming an astronaut.

I was the kid who was glued to the airplane window, when I was like 6 or 8 years old and just found it fascinating to watch the world go by.

So through all of my years growing up, I remember being obsessed with aviation and rocket ships and the shuttles I remember like VHS tapes, and they will the TV into the classroom.

We'd watch the VHS tapes of shuttle launches and landings.

That was always inspiring.

And I think, you know, aviation, spaceflight always represented supply.

And to do something that human beings thought was impossible.

And like we figured it out, we did it and we did it successfully and we did it.

Well, there are generations of humans who have been inspired by that story, me included.

So I'm born and raised in Goshen, Kentucky.

So Oldham County and just right outside of Louisville metro area kind of suburbs, 20 minutes in one direction was cornfields and horse farms and 20 minutes the other direction was downtown Louisville.

So I was always very grateful to be exposed to a lot of different ways of life and different people in those areas.

I enjoyed math and science.

I had a lot of great teachers in the Oldham County school system who challenged me.

You know, good enough was never good enough.

You know, you can always do better, always achieve the best you can and let that kind of guide you in life.

I I'll be honest along the way, like being an astronaut is just so uncommon.

It's such a hard job to get that I didn't necessarily let that drive my career decisions.

But kind of every step of the way, following the theme of like, hard work, gives you opportunities, earned you opportunities, you know, the next door would open and that would be interesting, and I would pursue it.

So, you know, that was true of flying F-18s and that was true of applying to test pilot school and then applying to NASA.

You know, you're like, well, may as well.

I applied almost a year and a half ago, along with everybody else I know in the test community and scientists and, you know, every you know, so many people have this dream of being an astronaut.

So there were over 8000 applicants in early 2024.

And I got the call in mid-July, and I was about a week away from joining my next squadron on deployment.

So I literally had my bags packed in my bedroom.

I'm like pre packing.

The way they phrased their statement to me was effectively like, you know, we want you to come join us.

Do you still want the job?

And so my first words on that phone call were no way I mean I mean, yes, of course I want the job, but like, no way.

So it was a pretty special moment from Goshen, Kentucky.

Erin overcast.

Where the 24th group of people to be selected to be astronauts.

So last week we all show up here and we're brand new to the job.

And we met each other for the first time.

And I just cannot emphasize enough how incredible my peers are.

We are starting on our astronaut candidate training program, so we've got two years coming up of skills related to human spaceflight.

So we're going to go do land survival in environments that mimic where we might find ourselves, either in orbit or on a lunar or Martian surface.

We're going to go do scuba dive training and then put on a spacesuit and go scuba diving in the spacesuit in the giant pool here at Johnson Space Center, where they have the whole space station mock up underwater.

And you get to learn skills of how to manipulate tools, how to move your body, how to navigate around the space station, do all kinds of maintenance and life support and experimentation in that environment.

Simulating Zero-G.

We're going to do some geology field camp, which is something totally new to me.

Those of us who are pilots will get to learn how to pilot the, T-38, which is a two seat supersonic jet that NASA has here for training.

And then at some point, our peers who are not pilots, they also get qualified in the back seat.

So we end up flying together in supersonic aircraft.

I am excited for the challenge.

You know, the hard things in life are often the best things in life.

Firmly believe that.

And, and I know that we will have challenging times as a class and as an astronaut office in the future.

But I'm also, just extremely confident that we are going to meet those challenges really well as a team.

Well, we are team Aaron.

Congrats to her.

After graduating over, Kash and the other candidates could be eligible to go on missions including trips to the moon and possibly Mars.

Here's hoping you go girl.