KU alumna Loral O'Hara, from Sugar Land, Texas, waves to the crowd as she is introduced as part of the new class of astronauts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Wednesday, June 7, 2017. NASA chose 12 new astronauts Wednesday from its biggest pool of applicants ever, selecting seven men and five women who could one day fly aboard the nation's next generation of spacecraft.

University of Kansas alumna Loral O’Hara has been selected by NASA as one of 12 astronaut recruits for 2017, NASA announced earlier this week.

Originally from Texas, O’Hara earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from KU in 2005 and later earned a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue University in 2009. She is a private pilot and certified EMT and wilderness first responder, according to NASA.

As part of NASA’s largest astronaut class since 2000, O’Hara was selected from more than 18,300 candidates to earn a spot among this year’s 12 astronaut recruits. The 2017 astronaut class was announced Wednesday by NASA officials and Vice President Mike Pence during an event at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

O’Hara and her fellow recruits will return to the Johnson Space Center in August to begin two years of training, after which she could be assigned to a variety of missions that include: performing research on the International Space Station, launching a spacecraft built by commercial companies, and departing for deep space missions on NASA’s new Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.