170607-O-N0101-006 HOUSTON (June 7, 2017) Vice President Mike Pence recognizes the newly introduced 12 NASA astronaut candidates at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. After completing two years of training, the candidates could be assigned to missions performing research on the International Space Station, launching from American soil on spacecraft built by commercial companies, and launching on deep space missions on NASA's new Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of NASA by Bill Ingalls/Released)