Jasmin Moghbeli


Jasmin Moghbeli is an Iranian-American US Marine Corps test pilot and NASA astronaut. She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Naval Postgraduate School, and US Naval Test Pilot School, and as of 2019, has over 2,000 hours of flight time and 150 combat missions including sorties in Afghanistan.

Early life and education

Jasmin Moghbeli was born on June 24, 1983 in Bad Nauheim, West Germany, to Fereshteh and Kamy Moghbeli. Her parents had fled Iran following the 1979 Iranian revolution, and moved the family to Baldwin, New York. Moghbeli graduated from Baldwin Senior High School, and attended Advanced Space Academy at Space Camp while a high school student. Moghbeli earned a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering with Information Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and played basketball for the MIT Engineers.

Military career

Moghbeli was commissioned as a US Marine Corps officer in 2005, and trained to become an AH-1 Super Cobra pilot. She deployed three times, and completed 150 combat missions. She received a master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate Schools. She attended the US Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, and became a helicopter test pilot at VMX-1 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona.

NASA career

In June 2017, Moghbeli was selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Group 22, and began her two-year training.
In January 2020, Moghbeli graduated as one of the 13 graduates of the NASA Astronaut Candidate Training Program, making her "now eligible for spaceflight, including assignments to the International Space Station, Artemis missions to the Moon, and ultimately, missions to Mars."

Personal life

Moghbeli lives in Webster, Texas. Her parents live in Delray Beach, Florida. Her older brother, Kaveh, lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Awards and honors

Moghbeli has received four Air Medals, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. She received the US Navy Test Pilot School Class 144 Outstanding Developmental Phase II Award and the Commander Willie McCool Outstanding Student Award as the Class 144 Honor Graduate.