One Purdue grad has started training for space missions after being selected to join NASA’s latest astronaut class.
Yuri Kubo, a Columbus, Ind. native, was one of 10 selected from 8,000 applicants last September. Kubo holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University before working for 12 years at Space X.
Kubo wanted to be an astronaut since he was a kid.
“You look up at the stars, you look up at the moon, and you think, that would be awesome,” he said. “You know, playing with Legos, like space Legos, watching science fiction, Star Trek, Star Wars.”
Kubo got the call telling him he’d been accepted during a meeting.
“There was a lot of excitement, a lot of elation that I was feeling,” he said. “I've been working on this, working towards this my entire life. But there's, again, a bit of gravity associated with the situation, too. I was very aware and very cognizant of the shoes that I was going to be filling.”
In training, Kubo is learning to use the robotic arm of the International Space Station and is also learning Russian.
“We're doing survival training,” he said. “Some of my colleagues have already started flying in the NASA T38 jets. We're about to start some pilot training ourselves.”
Kubo will complete nearly two years of training before becoming eligible to participate in exploratory missions to the low Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars.
“I personally can't think of a better job than being able to go in outer space and be at the forefront of human imagination, at the forefront of all this immense discovery and innovation that's happening,” he said.
