Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, episode 304. Houston, we have an astronaut.

I'm Gary Jordan, and I'll be your host today.

On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, astronauts, all to let you know what's going on in the world of human spaceflight.

Laurel O'Hara was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in 2017.

As a researcher, exploring some of the most extreme and remote environments on planet Earth, and now a NASA astronaut, Laurel is looking forward to her very first mission on the International Space Station.

Born right here in Houston, Texas, O'Hara graduated from Clements High School in Sugarland, Texas in 2001.

She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas in 2005, and earned a Master of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Prior to joining NASA, her work focused on the engineering and operations of deep ocean research, scientific submersibles, and robots.

At the time of her selection in June 2017, O'Hara was a research engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where she spent eight years working on the engineering and operations of underwater vehicles such as the human occupied research submersible Alvin, and the remotely operated vehicle Jason.

Her experience includes mechanical design and analysis, systems engineering, man submersible testing, and certification, and vehicle operations.

She participated in 11 scientific research cruises aboard research vessels as a mechanical technician and data processor.

From 2006 to 2007, she worked for Rocketplane in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as a project engineer on the development of a suborbital space vehicle.

O'Hara is set to fly on the Soyuz MS-24 mission to the International Space Station.

This mission will be a crew of three, where she will be accompanied by two Russian cosmonauts launching from the Baikonor Cosmodrome launch site 31 in Kazakhstan.

This will be O'Hara's first flight assignment of her astronaut career. She scheduled to launch in September 2023.

Now that's just skimming the surface. Let's dive even deeper into the ocean that is the life of NASA astronaut Laurel O'Hara. Enjoy.

Music

Laurel O'Hara, thank you so much for coming on Houston Mobile Podcast. Thank you for having me.

Hey, very exciting. You're going to be launching to the International Space Station soon, and being there for quite some time.

I think what's exciting about your background is you've had exposure to space for quite some time, and it's just sort of been in your backyard.

Now it's happening, but I think it's really interesting growing up in Houston that you just had this right here.

What was it like growing up and just being around this area?

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