Kayla Jane Barron

Kayla Jane Barron (née Sax), born on September 19, 1987, in Pocatello, Idaho, is an American submarine warfare officer, engineer, and NASA astronaut. She graduated from Richland High School in 2006 and went on to the United States Naval Academy, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in systems engineering in 2010. She then received a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to study nuclear engineering at the University of Cambridge, earning a Master of Philosophy degree in 2011. Barron was part of the first group of women to become submarine warfare officers and served on the USS *Maine*. In June 2017, she was selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Group 22. Barron launched on November 10, 2021, as part of SpaceX Crew-3 and spent 176 days on the International Space Station, where she performed two spacewalks.