MIAMI (WSVN) - A South Florida man is shooting for the stars, as he prepares to join NASA.
The space agency just announced the 12 members selected for their 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class, out of 18,000 applicants.
Among them is Dr. Frank Rubio, a Miami native.
#ICYMI: Yesterday, we announced #NewAstronauts; 12 chosen from 18,300+ applicants. Get to know them: https://t.co/w2q9sC9Whz pic.twitter.com/JtuxtlW0MA
— NASA (@NASA) June 8, 2017
Rubio, a U.S. Army major and board certified family physician, said he’s thrilled to be going to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. “The people that you’re surrounded by, through the assessment process, it’s very humbling to be selected from that group, so it’s an honor,” he said during a news conference, Wednesday. “We cried a little bit, my wife and I did, but we’re ecstatic to be here.”
Rubio and the rest of the 2017 class will report for duty in August to start a two-year training program. After that, NASA could assign them to missions in outer space.
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