NASA astronaut Luke Delaney has been selected for the SpaceX Crew-13 mission, which will mark his first visit to the International Space Station.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A former osprey is preparing to fly far beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA astronaut Luke Delaney has been selected as a pilot for the SpaceX Crew-13 mission, two decades after his graduation from the University of North Florida.
Delaney, alongside NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, will head to the International Space Station (ISS) for a long-term science expedition.
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The mission will be Delaney’s first one to the ISS, where he will join the crew of Expedition 75.
The Florida native is a former United States Marine Corps major, who completed his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at UNF in 2006 before receiving his master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School a decade later. During his time in the military, Delaney was a distinguished naval aviator and test pilot who participated in exercises throughout the Asia Pacific region and conducted combat missions supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, NASA reports.
After retiring from the military in 2020, he became a pilot at the NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia and an aerospace engineer.
In 2021, he was one of just 10 people chosen as astronaut candidates from a pool of more than 12,000 applicants. Now, with his training complete, Delaney will soon put it to use.
The SpaceX Crew-13 mission will launch no earlier than mid-September, according to NASA.