Kayla Jane Barron

ABOUT KAYLA JANE BARRON

NASA astronaut and a US Navy Submarine Warfare Officer who was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. She was a member of the first class of women commissioned into the submarine community.

She graduated from Richland High School in 2006. In 2010, she earned a bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy. In 2011, she earned a master's degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Cambridge .

She was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. She has garnered over 130,000 followers on Instagram. where she posts photos from space among other science content.

Her parents are Scott and Lauri Sax. She is married to Tom Barron, a U.S. Army Special Forces officer.

In May 2022, she posted a photo alongside astronaut Jessica Andrea Watkins .