Indian-American selected by NASA among 12 new astronauts

The NASA has chosen an American of Indian descent--Raja Chari, among the 12 new astronauts.

He is the first Indian-American after Kalpana Chawla to be chosen by NASA for one of its missions.

"Meet Raja Chari, one of our 12 #NewAstronauts! He's a @usairforce Lt. Col. from Cedar Falls, IA. Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/raja-chari .," NASA Astronauts tweeted.

Chari has been selected by the NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. He will report for duty in August.

The Iowa native graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1999 with Bachelor's degrees in Astronautical Engineering and Engineering Science.

He continued on to earn a Master's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

Chari will report for duty in August to begin his two years of training as an Astronaut Candidate.

Upon completion, he will be assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office while he awaits a flight assignment.