Astronaut from Long Island chosen for NASA Artemis squad

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Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, July 9, 2019. (NASA photo)

NEW YORK - An astronaut who grew up on Long Island is among the elite cadre of explorers who will train for NASA's Artemis moon-landing program.

Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, a major in the U.S. Marines, was born in Germany but raised in Baldwin, which she calls her hometown.

As a Marine Corps helicopter pilot, Moghbeli has deployed to Afghanistan, flown more than 150 combat missions, and has accumulated more than 2,000 hours of flight time in more than two dozen aircraft. She served as a helicopter test pilot before being selected for astronaut training in 2017. 

Earlier this week, NASA introduced Moghbeli and 17 other astronauts as the first wave of the Artemis Team, which will prepare for human-based missions to the moon.

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"The astronauts of the Artemis Team will help NASA prepare for the coming Artemis missions, which begin next year working with the agency's commercial partners as they develop human landing systems; assisting in the development of training; defining hardware requirements; and consulting on technical development," NASA said in a statement. "They also will engage the public and industry on the Artemis program and NASA’s exploration plans."

Jasmin Moghbeli during engine maintenance training at Ellington Field in Houston, April 9, 2018. (NASA photo)

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Moghbeli is a graduate of Baldwin Senior High School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

She enjoys paddle boarding, dancing, flying kites, and skateboarding with her husband, Sam Wald, according to her NASA bio.