NASA Announces New Astronaut for ISS for Expedition 76 Next Year

Published 07/31/2026 at 7:05 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Portland, Oregon) – A new assignment for an American astronaut to the International Space Station was announced Thursday. NASA's Deniz Burnham will head out on her first spaceflight next year, a long-duration mission to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 76. (NASA photo)

Burnham is set to launch aboard the Soyuz MS-30 spacecraft with Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Konstantin Borisov. Liftoff is targeted for March 2027 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crew is expected to spend roughly seven months conducting research and station operations in low Earth orbit.

“During her expedition, Burnham will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars and to benefit people on Earth,” NASA said in a press release.

Burnham was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021 and graduated with the agency’s 23rd astronaut class in 2024. She grew up in a military family and moved frequently before settling in Wasilla, Alaska. She was born at Incirlik Air Base in Adana, Turkey.

Photo NASA

Her background includes a NASA internship at Ames Research Center and degrees in chemical engineering from the University of California, San Diego, and mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California. She spent more than a decade overseeing drilling operations across North America in the energy sector, served as an engineering duty officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves, and is a licensed private pilot with multiple ratings.

See more Oregon / Washington / Coast Astronomy

The International Space Station has hosted continuous human habitation for more than 25 years, supporting scientific breakthroughs not possible on Earth and laying the groundwork for NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon and future expeditions to Mars.

More information about station research, operations, and crew activities is available at nasa.gov/station.

NASA: ISS above the Pacific Northwest

Unfortunately for Oregon, Washington, Portland and the Oregon coast there are no sightings of the ISS coming up in the approaching weeks.

Some sightings over Oregon this summer. were absolutely out-of-this-world beautiful and bright. There are still quite a few satellites visible in night skies for awhile in the Pacific Northwest, which Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff have been seeing in great abundance this summer.

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