When NASA’s newest astronaut candidate class reports to Johnson Space Center in Houston this August, among those shooting for the stars will be Bruton High School alumna Zena Cardman.
Cardman, 29, is one of a dozen people selected out of more than 18,300 applicants for the astronaut program. While she may have been born in Illinois, Cardman credits her formative years in Williamsburg — as well as numerous teachers and mentors — with steering her onto the path to outer space.
“I used to watch meteor showers with my mother when I was younger,” she said. “I always thought space and space exploration was inspiring and cool, but it didn’t really become a concrete dream of mine until high school.”
Cardman attended Bruton High School, where she said a biology teacher, Emil Davis, was influential in her decision to pursue a career in science. Throughout high school, Cardman studied as much as she could on the subject, and assisted with research projects under Davis and at the College of William & Mary and Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS).
“Mr. Davis was just very inspirational and made me fall in love with the subject,” she said. “I also think living in the Tidewater area and being surrounded by all that water and natural beauty really made me fall in love with nature.”
Davis was thrilled NASA selected Cardman as one of the astronaut candidates.
“Zena was among the brightest of my students, but what set her apart was her initiative and her perseverance,” Davis said. “She first told me she wanted to be an astrobiologist in the ninth grade. Everything that she did was with that goal in mind. That takes a lot of fortitude.
“When I first heard the news about her being an astronaut candidate,” he added. “I was surprised, but I also wasn’t surprised. I always knew she was in the game. I am extremely happy for her.”
After graduating Bruton High School, Cardman went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Marine Sciences from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is currently working on a doctorate degree from the Pennsylvania State University.
Her experience includes research on microorganisms that inhabit caves and the deep sea floor. Cardman has made multiple trips to Antarctica and the Arctic for various projects and also worked on research vessels and served on NASA analog missions.
Spending time in the Arctic “was fun and an other-worldly experience,” she said. “Being there was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was just beautiful. I’ve studied microorganisms in extreme environments: cold, hot, dry, dark. That helps to find out what might have lived on early Earth or what might live on another planet.”
Cardman applied for the astronaut program in December 2015 based in part on those experiences. Several months later, she received a phone call out of the blue from NASA asking her to come to Houston for an interview.
“I didn’t recognize the number at first and almost didn’t pick up,” recalled Cardman. “It was a complete surprise. It was fun meeting other people who applied. It was a real diverse group of people with varying backgrounds and expertise, and I left unsure if I was going to get accepted.”
The final selection came one morning in May. Cardman waited nervously by the phone with close friends. Hearing she had been chosen was “just a happy, surreal, unexpected moment,” she said. “I’ll never forget that day. I’m still smiling. I’m just so happy.”
She immediately phoned her parents in Williamsburg as well as her fiancé, Miles Saunders, but then had to keep mum until the official announcement from NASA in June.
Cardman and her fellow candidates will train for two years, which will include learning how to fly T38 jets, how to speak Russian, and how to spacewalk as well as the ins and outs of the International Space Station.
After that, there will be the possibility of heading into space, either to work on the International Space Station or with one of the newer spacecraft being developed by NASA, the SpaceX Dragon or the Boeing CST-100 Starliner.
“That’s the ultimate goal,” Cardman said. “I’ll go to any destination. I am just so excited. What I am most excited about is being able to get to know this new class of candidates. They are such an awesome group of people.”
Read more profiles of local residents in WYDaily’s section In Our Hometown.
