Lauren Edgar was in second grade the first time she realized her future might lie outside the earth’s atmosphere.

While attending Discovery Elementary School in Sammamish, Edgar went to watch the Discovery Space Shuttle launch.

“Going to the launch in person, realizing there were people on board and they were leaving this planet — it made me wonder what else is out there,” Edgar said in an interview Monday.

That formative experience, coupled with a love for geology and the aviation and aerospace history in the area where she grew up, set Edgar on a path that culminated this week in something few ever get to experience: getting selected as an astronaut for NASA.

Edgar, 40, is one of 10 people NASA has selected to join its 2025 astronaut candidate class. The selection process takes month

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