Loral O’Hara’s journey to outer space came by way of inner space, otherwise known as the deep ocean. The NASA astronaut spent eight years as a WHOI research engineer, lending her mechanical system design skills to the 2013 overhaul of the human-occupied submersible HOVAlvin and deep-sea exploration with the ocean robots Jason and Nereid Under Ice. While the Houston native always dreamed of becoming an astronaut, she found similarities in the engineering and problem solving required to build vehicles capable of exploring deep sea and deep space.

“I love exploration, particularly when it involves people,” O’Hara told WHOI’s Oceanus magazine in 2013. “What I want to do with my life is build vehicles that let people work and live in places that are either inaccessible or accessible to only a few.”

In 2017, O’Hara was one of just 12 people (and only five women) to be selected for NASA’s Astronaut Candidate program from an applicant pool of more than 18,300—the largest number NASA has ever received. That feat came after years of education and training, first as an undergrad studying aerospace engineering at the University of Kansas, followed by a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue University. At WHOI, she participated in 10 research cruises, and in 2013 she completed a dive in the newly rebuilt Alvin. She still holds a title as adjunct engineer at WHOI.