New NASA astronaut candidates become Purdue’s 29th and 30th members of Cradle of Astronauts   

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Two Purdue University alumni are part of NASA’s 2025 class of astronaut candidates.

The alumni, Adam Fuhrmann and Yuri Kubo, will immediately join the Cradle of Astronauts at Purdue, bringing the total number of its members 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!”

Fuhrmann, currently in the U.S. Air Force, earned his master’s in systems engineering from Purdue in 2022. Fuhrmann served as the director of operations for an Air Force flight test unit when he was selected as an astronaut candidate.

Kubo earned two degrees from Purdue — a bachelor’s in electrical engineering in 2008 and a master’s in electrical and computer engineering in 2015. Purdue’s College of Engineering also named him a 2024 recipient of its 38 by 38 award. At the time of his selection as an astronaut candidate, Kubo was a senior vice president at Electric Hydrogen.

NASA chose Fuhrmann and Kubo from a pool of more than 8,000 applicants. Eight other candidates are part of the 2025 class. The selected candidates will undergo nearly two years of training before they graduate as flight-eligible astronauts for NASA missions to low Earth orbit, the moon and Mars.

Purdue’s Cradle of Astronauts began in 1959 when Virgil “Gus” Grissom, a 1950 alum, became a member of the Mercury Seven. The cradle also includes both the first person and most recent person to walk on the moon. The first person, Armstrong, graduated from Purdue in 1955. Gene Cernan, the most recent person, is a 1956 alum. Armstrong and Cernan received honorary doctorates from Purdue in 1970.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its integrated, comprehensive Indianapolis urban expansion; the Mitch Daniels School of Business; Purdue Computes; and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.