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Little Elm ISD is proud to recognize one of its alumni, Rebecca Lawler (Shaw), a 2005 graduate of Little Elm High School, who has been selected as one of just ten individuals nationwide for NASA’s highly competitive 2025 astronaut candidate class.

Lawler, 38, is a native of Little Elm, Texas, and a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy. She served as a Navy P-3 pilot and experimental test pilot, logging more than 2,800 flight hours across over 45 aircraft. She flew as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hurricane hunter and during NASA’s Operation IceBridge, and was a test pilot for United Airlines at the time of her selection.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Lawler also earned master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the National Test Pilot School, where she also graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

Lawler was chosen from more than 8,000 applicants across the United States. NASA’s 2025 astronaut candidates will complete nearly two years of intensive training, including robotics, space medicine, geology, simulated spacewalks, foreign language, land and water survival, and high-performance jet flight. Upon graduation, they will join NASA’s active astronaut corps, supporting missions to low Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.

Her journey from Little Elm High School classrooms to the forefront of human space exploration is a source of immense pride for the Little Elm ISD community. Lawler’s selection demonstrates how far Lobo graduates can go when they set their sights on the stars.