2 Purdue graduates included in NASA’s astronaut candidate class

(WXIN/WTTV): Two Purdue alumni, including an Indiana native, have officially joined NASA’s 2025 class of astronaut candidates.

Yuri Kubo, who hails from Columbus, and Adam Fuhrmann represented two of NASA’s 10 new astronaut candidates who were welcomed on Monday during the 2025 astronaut candidate class ceremony at the Johnson Space Center based in Houston, Texas.

“I started here back in college,” Kubo said. “I was a co-op right here at the Johnson Space Center, actually. It feels like a homecoming, a nice homecoming to come back. I spent seven tours here at Johnson Space Center across the engineering side as well as the space operations side. I got a good taste of what it was to be a part of this incredible community of dedicated people.”

Kubo earned his bachelor’s in electrical engineering in 2008 and his master’s in electrical and computer engineering in 2015. When he was selected as an astronaut candidate, Kubo was a senior vice president at Electric Hydrogen, a company that led research into building electrolyzers that split water into oxygen and hydrogen.

Kubo also spent 12 years working at SpaceX after a previous stint with NASA Johnson that included tours supporting the Space Shuttle Program and the International Space Station.

Meanwhile, Fuhrmann received his master’s degree in systems engineering from Purdue in 2022. Currently in the U.S. Air Force, his role at the time of selection is the director of operations for an Air Force flight test unit. Fuhrmann has logged more than 400 combat hours after he was deployed to provide support for Operations Freedom’s Sentinel and Resolute Support.

These latest inclusions now bring the total number of members in Purdue’s “Cradle of Astronauts” to 30.

“Known as the Cradle of Astronauts, Purdue University is excited to see NASA’s announcement of two Boilermakers among the cohort of 10 astronauts selected to go to the moon and then Mars,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said. “Adam Fuhrmann and Yuri Kubo will carry on the spirit of exploration rooted in the legacy of 24 other Purdue-alum NASA astronauts including Neil Armstrong. Many more small steps and giant leaps to come.”

The competition for selection was extremely tough — the pair was chosen from a pool of more than 8,000 applicants. The Purdue grads received this distinction after completing a grueling process that included close to two years of training to be selected for flight assignments that could bring them to low Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars.