NASA has chosen 12 new astronauts from its biggest pool of applicants ever. Vice President Mike Pence attended Wednesday's announcement of the Astronaut Class of 2017 at Johnson Space Center in Houston. That's more than double the previous record of 8,000, set in 1978 when the space shuttles were close to launching. The seven men and five women selected Wednesday will join 44 astronauts already in the NASA corps. U.S. astronauts haven't launched from home soil since 2011.

Source: CBC News June 07, 2017 18:56 UTC