COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — A NASA astronaut candidate with ties to Colorado is one step closer to space. Lieutenant Commander Erin "Loft" Overcash is one of just ten NASA astronaut candidates, an achievement she only dreamed of as a kid.
“I always knew that that would be incredible,” Overcash said. “But I just never really expected that to work out.”
Overcash grew up in Kentucky, but her path to the stars runs through Boulder. She attended the University of Colorado Boulder, earning her undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering before completing a master’s degree in bioastronautics.
“As a Buffalo, as a CU Boulder student, you are surrounded by all these incredible opportunities with aerospace companies,” Overcash said. “It’s kind of this mecca of really cool aerospace stuff going on in the world.”
Her fascination with flight started early.
“I was the little kid glued to the airplane window,” Overcash said. “The goal of being an astronaut, as a kid, was the coolest job I could possibly think of doing.”
After college, Overcash went on to become a naval aviator. She was just a week away from her next deployment when she got a call that would change her life.
“It was 9 o’clock at night on a Monday,” Overcash said. “My spouse and I were watching TV when we got a phone call from an unknown number. I answered the call and it was the chief of the astronaut office offering the job.”
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In September 2025, Overcash began two years of initial astronaut training, which includes flying T-38 jets and scuba diving in NASA’s neutral buoyancy lab, a massive pool used to simulate spacewalks. She will be mission eligible in 2027.
As she prepares for the possibility of spaceflight, Overcash has one simple piece of advice: There is no such thing as talent.
“If you are willing to work harder than anyone else around you, you will be more successful than anyone else around you,” Overcash said. “Find those people that are obviously being successful, do what they do, and then do more of it.”
A galactic goal, once imagined from an airplane window, is now firmly within reach.
Email Senior Reporter Meghan Glova at meghan.glova@koaa.com.
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