Caribou Native Jessica Meir Begins NASA Astronaut Training [VIDEO]

Caribou, Maine native Jessica Meir made her way to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston this week to begin astronaut training.

Meir along with seven others hand-picked from a group of over 6,000 individuals began their journey in Texas to be among the first to fly on new commercial space transport systems now under development. The group could potentially be the first humans to lead a mission to Mars.

They were welcomed by NASA administrator Charles Bolden as candidates to the astronaut corps with the goal of future deep space exploration including robotic and human missions to near-Earth asteroids, the moon, and Mars.

Josh Cassada, Victor Glover, Nick Hague, Andrew Morgan, Christina Hammock, Nicole Mann, Anne McClain and Meir will spend the next two years in basic training where they'll be expected to develop the necessary skills to survive life on the international space station along with supersonic jet flight training.

Check out this video of Meir explaining what she's looking forward to on her mission!