NASA Astronaut Deniz Burnham Assigned to First ISS Mission via Russian Soyuz

NASA astronaut Deniz Burnham will embark on her first International Space Station flight as an Expedition 76 flight engineer. She will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS‑30 spacecraft together with Russian cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Konstantin Borisov. The launch is targeted for March 2027 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and the crew is expected to spend about seven months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

During the expedition Burnham will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations that support future Moon and Mars exploration and benefit life on Earth. Selected to NASA’s astronaut corps in 2021, she graduated with the agency’s 23rd class in 2024. Born at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, she grew up in Alaska, earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from UC San Diego and an M.S. in mechanical engineering from USC, spent a decade managing oil‑rig operations, served as an engineering officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves, and holds multiple pilot ratings.