Astronaut candidate Robb Kulin has resigned halfway through his NASA training, marking the first time in 50 years that an astronaut-in-training quit the program. NASA spokesperson Brandi Dean said that Kulin’s departure is effective Friday and that he is leaving for personal reasons that the space agency cannot discuss due to privacy laws, reports NBC News.
Kulin was one of 12 new astronauts chosen last summer, out of 3,800 applications. The 34-year-old was a senior manager at SpaceX when selected, and said at the time that he was hoping to fly on a vehicle he helped design. SpaceX and Boeing are currently developing NASA’s first commercial crew capsules. They are due to launch next year.
Think your onboarding and retention are amazing? NASA had their first new-hire quit in during training 50 years. https://t.co/3BWSa2sxo1
— Christopher Kurtz (@PeerThru) August 29, 2018
The last time astronauts-in-training resigned from NASA was in 1968.
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