Raja Chari, an American of Indian descent, is among the 12 new astronauts selected by NASA.
He is the first Indian-American after Kalpana Chawla to be chosen by NASA for one of its missions.
"Meet Raja Chari, one of our 12 #NewAstronauts! He's a @usairforce Lt. Col. from Cedar Falls, IA. Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/raja-chari .," NASA Astronauts tweeted.
Chari has been selected by the NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. He will report for duty in August.
The Iowa native graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1999 with Bachelor's degrees in Astronautical Engineering and Engineering Science.
He continued on to earn a Master's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School.
Chari will report for duty in August to begin his two years of training as an Astronaut Candidate.
Upon completion, he will be assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office while he awaits a flight assignment.
