Colorado Springs U.S. Air Force Academy graduate gets her astronaut wings

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)- A Colorado Springs woman is making big moves as one of 11 new astronaut candidates getting ready to join NASA!    

Nichole Ayers graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and is graduating from the NASA astronaut program through Rice University in Houston today.

That means she is one step closer to reaching her dream of heading to the moon and Mars.

"I think excited is such an understatement. I wish we had a better word in the English language for excited. You know, we just got to experience the entire graduation ceremony, which was the culmination of over two years of training and work as a class," Ayers said.

For Ayers, the dream of becoming an astronaut started at a young age. "I think I knew that I wanted to be an astronaut and got to go to space camp in fourth grade, which really sealed the deal," Ayers explained

After more than 12 years of education, she's living in the moment. "You know, I wanted to fly the space shuttle and I was kind of a little serious little kid. So I set my goals and set my dreams and just started working hard towards it."

Ayers has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's in computational and applied mathematics but says her most important accomplishment is getting accepted to NASA's astronaut candidate class.

"It's tough to put into words just how amazing it feels today to now be eligible for space flights and now be a part of the astronaut corps and go contribute to NASA in a totally new way."

She is also recognized as one of the few women in her class to have flown the aircraft F-22 Raptor and is known for being the first-ever woman to lead the aircraft in formation during combat. Something she humbly says happened by accident.

"I didn't even realize what was happening or how momentous that moment might be. I was just showing up to go do my job. And so afterward, my squadron commander said, you know, mentioned that that might have been the first time that two women flew the raptor together in combat."

Ayers says today's graduation ceremony means the world to her and is excited to join her new team.