NASA Astronaut Group 23 (nicknamed "The Flies") is a group of  12. The four women and six men chosen by NASA in December 2021 reported to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to begin two years of basic training in January. Joining their class were also the two members of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) second class of astronauts, increasing the number of "Flies" to twelve.

"The Flies," or NASA's 23rd class of astronaut candidates include: Christopher Williams, Andre Douglas, Mohammad Al Mulla, Jessica Wittner, Marcos Berríos, Deniz Burnham, Nichole Ayers, Nora Al Matrooshi, Jack Hathaway, Christina Birch, Luke Delaney and Anil Menon. 

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1959 Group 1 – "The Mercury Seven"

1962 Group 2 – "The New Nine"

1963 Group 3 – "The Fourteen"

1965 Group 4 – "The Scientists"

1966 Group 5 – "The Original 19"

1967 Group 6 – "The Excess Eleven (XS-11)"

1969 Group 7 – USAF MOL Transfer, no official nickname (Astronauts selected from the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program)

1978 Group 8 – "Thirty-Five New Guys (TFNG)" (class included first female candidates)

1980 Group 9 – "19+80"

1984 Group 10 – "The Maggots"

1985 Group 11 – no official nickname

1987 Group 12 – "The GAFFers"

1990 Group 13 – "The Hairballs"

1992 Group 14 – "The Hogs"

1994 Group 15 – "The Flying Escargot"

1996 Group 16 – "The Sardines" (largest class to date, 35 NASA candidates and nine international astronauts)

1998 Group 17 – "The Penguins"

2000 Group 18 – "The Bugs"

2004 Group 19 – "The Peacocks"

2009 Group 20 – "The Chumps"

2013 Group 21 – "The 8-Balls" (composed of four male and four female candidates; highest percentage of females)

2017 Group 22 – "The Turtles"

2022 Group 23 – "The Flies"​​​​​​​

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