Lots of kids dream of growing up and becoming an astronaut. But for Leesburg’s Adam Fuhrmann, that dream is becoming a reality. Fuhrmann has already been logging flight miles as a major in the U.S. Air Force, and now he’s officially a member of NASA’s 2025 class of astronaut candidates.
The 10 candidates — chosen from more than 8,000 applicants — will complete two years of intense training to become eligible for future spaceflight assignments to low-orbit Earth, the moon, and possibly even Mars.
Fuhrmann shares his thoughts on his out-of-this-world opportunity and how his NoVA roots led him to this career milestone.
How did growing up in NoVA influence your interest in aeronautics?
There’s a lot of aerospace companies in the DC metro area, and my father is an aerospace engineer. He was working at Orbital Sciences, which is now Northrop Grumman, right near Dulles Airport. And I was, I believe, 8 years old, and it was take-your-kid-to-work day, and he brought me in when Orbital was in the process of building this spacecraft called the X-34. It was actually a NASA program, an unmanned space plane. As an 8-year-old walking into this facility, everyone’s in these [specialized] clean suits, and they’re running wires through this hypersonic space plane — that was a huge trigger for me in being interested in aerospace. I went to Heritage High School, and there were just a lot of great science and technology avenues.
What is one of your favorite memories from your time in the Air Force?
I’m actually still in the Air Force. [I’m] essentially on loan to NASA from the United States Air Force. I’m still active duty. Some of the best memories that I’ve got are really preparing and going on a deployment with my fighter squadron. You’re working as a team to prepare and to go do the mission, and really relying on your teammates in that deployed environment.
What has your NASA training been like so far?
Every day is different. We’ve been doing a lot of preparations for spacewalk qualification … that’s going to be a completely new experience for all of us. We get thrown something new every day, and you’ve got to be really ready to bounce from one topic to the next pretty quickly.
Have your skills from the Air Force helped in training?
Yes, for sure, especially the teamwork aspect. In my most recent role as a test pilot, working with groups of engineers and staging professionals to plan and execute a mission … I can see [that] translating very well to the NASA environment.
What are some of your favorite places in Leesburg?
The first house I was in [growing up] was pretty close to Ida Lee Park, so I remember a lot of fond memories there at Ida Lee as a little kid. Last time I was [in Leesburg], I took my parents to Tuscarora Mill. And then when I was about to graduate high school, I think they had just opened the Fire Works Pizza that’s right next to Tuscarora Mill. That place was a lot of fun.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Feature image of Adam Fuhrmann courtesy NASA
This story originally ran in our April 2026 issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
