Nichole Ayers

Nichole Ayers was born in 1989 in Colorado and grew up in Colorado Springs, the home of the U.S. Air Force Academy, which she would later attend. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the Academy and a master's in computational and applied mathematics from Rice University, then built a distinguished career as an Air Force fighter pilot. Flying the T-38 Talon and the F-22 Raptor, she rose to the rank of major and accumulated more than 1,400 flight hours, including combat missions over Iraq and Syria. In 2019 she led one of the first all-female F-22 combat formations, a milestone in a field long dominated by men. That record of operational excellence and leadership brought her to NASA's attention, and she was selected as an astronaut candidate in 2021 as part of the class nicknamed 'The Flies.'

Ayers completed her first spaceflight as the pilot of SpaceX Crew-10, launching aboard the Crew Dragon Endurance on March 14, 2025. Over roughly 148 days in orbit she served as a flight engineer for Expedition 72 and Expedition 73, contributing to the station's research program and day-to-day operations before returning to Earth on August 9, 2025. During the mission she and commander Anne McClain ventured outside the station on a spacewalk on May 1, 2025 to relocate a communications antenna and begin preparing the truss for a future rollout solar array. Ayers also drew wide public attention for her photography from the cupola, most notably a striking image of a red 'sprite' — a transient luminous event that flashes above powerful thunderstorms — captured in July 2025 as the station passed over Mexico and the southern United States, an image that circulated in science and news coverage and highlighted the station's value as a vantage point for atmospheric observation.

As a first-time flier who arrived from the front line of tactical aviation, Ayers represents the newest generation of NASA astronauts training with an eye toward missions beyond low Earth orbit under the Artemis program. Her early prominence — the all-female F-22 formation, her role on a high-profile Crew Dragon flight, and her widely shared orbital imagery — has made her a visible ambassador for spaceflight and for young people, particularly girls, considering careers in mathematics, aviation, and engineering. She remains an active member of the astronaut corps, available for future assignments as the United States expands its human spaceflight ambitions.