Erin Overcash
Erin Overcash | |
|---|---|
Portrait in 2025 | |
| Born | Erin Roxie Overcash November 29, 1990 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut candidate | |
| Selection | NASA Group 24 (2025) |
| Military career | |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Years | 2017–2025 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Commander |
| Unit | Strike Fighter Squadron 102 |
Erin Roxie Overcash (born November 29, 1990) is an American aerospace engineer, Navy test pilot, and astronaut candidate in NASA Astronaut Group 24.[1]
Early life and education
Overcash was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1990. She attended North Oldham High School in Goshen, Kentucky[2] and became the Kentucky State Champion at high jump twice.[3] She studied aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, graduating with a bachelor's in 2014 and a master's in bioastronautics and engineering entrepreneurship in 2017.
After graduation, she commissioned into the U.S. Navy as an operational pilot of the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet with Strike Fighter Squadron 102. She was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan and served multiple deployments in the Pacific and Middle East until 2022.[4]
Overcash attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, graduating with Class 162 in 2023. Afterwards, she served as an F/A-18E, F/A-18F, and Boeing EA-18G Growler test pilot and accrued more than 1,300 flight hours in 20 different aircraft, including 249 landings on naval aircraft carriers. Her call sign is "Loft". In 2024, she was also a Service Chief Fellow at DARPA.
While training for an operational tour as squadron department head of the F/A-18E at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia, she was selected for the NASA Astronaut Corps along with nine others in Group 24. She is the sixteenth person and third woman to be selected from the University of Colorado Boulder. She reported for duty at Johnson Space Center in Houston in September 2025, where she will complete two years of astronaut training for expeditions to the International Space Station.
She is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Ninety-Nines, and Women Military Aviators.[5]
Awards
- Naval Test Wing Atlantic Test Pilot of the Year (2024)[6]
- U.S. Navy Commendation Medal (2023)
Personal life
Overcash is married to another naval aviator. She earned Three Caps with the USA Rugby Women's National Team and competes in Ironman Triathlon events.[7]
See also
- NASA Astronaut Group 24
- International Space Station
- List of astronauts educated at the University of Colorado Boulder
References
- ^ "NASA Astronaut Candidate Erin Overcash - NASA". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
- ^ "NASA selects woman from Kentucky, man from southern Indiana for 2025 astronaut class". WDRB. September 23, 2025. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
- ^ "Erin Overcash - Track and Field". University of Colorado Athletics. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
- ^ staff, Era (September 22, 2025). "Meet Erin Overcash: Goshen's astronaut candidate". PMG-KY1.com. The Oldham Era. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
- ^ "NASA Astronaut Candidate Erin Overcash - NASA". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
- ^ "NASA Astronaut Candidate Erin Overcash - NASA". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved January 23, 2026.
- ^ Burke, Jenni (September 24, 2025). "Former Eagle Erin Overcash soars into NASA Astronaut Candidate Program". usa.rugby. Retrieved January 23, 2026.