NASA announced its 2025 class of astronaut candidates on Monday and a woman from North Texas was among the 10 people who made the cut.

38-year-old Rebecca Lawler is a native of Little Elm. She's a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy and a former Navy P-3 pilot and experimental test pilot.

Lawler has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and master's degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the National Test Pilot School. She also is a U.S. Naval Test Pilot School graduate.

Lawler previously flew as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane hunter and during NASA's Operation IceBridge. She was a test pilot for United Airlines at the time of selection.

More than 8,000 people applied for the candidate program, where only 10 w

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