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WILKES-BARRE &#8212; When Bob Hines was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, like most young boys who gazed in wide-eyed wonder at the winged aircraft that soared through the sky, he told them he wanted to be a pilot.But Hines secretly wished for something more, keeping his dream to himself only because the reality seemed just as out of reach as the airplanes cutting through the clouds above.Hines doesn&#8217;t have to dream anymore. The Crestwood graduate&#8217;s childhood hope was realized this week as NASA named the him one of a dozen new astronauts. The former Mountain Top resident was one of two selected who call Pennsylvania home.Vice President Mike Pence welcomed the seven men and five women hand-picked from a record 18,000 applicants to carry the torch as the next generation of astronauts at a ceremony Wednesday at NASA&#8217;s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.Hines, 42, a married father of three girls now residing in Houston, could be assigned to the International Space Station, participate in space launches, and pilot deep space missions when he reports for duty in August.Whatever heights he goes to, Hines will look back fondly at the local community he said once supported him to reach for the stars.&#8220;I don&#8217;t think I appreciated (the area) much at the time but looking back, having that small community feel and the support of that community &#8230; it takes a village, and everybody there supported you all the way,&#8221; Hines said in a phone interview Thursday with the Times Leader.Because Hines&#8217; father was in the U.S. Army, his family didn&#8217;t stay in one area for long.They called Germany home for a short while before settling down in Mountain Top. He recalled being in fifth grade at Fairview Elementary School and watching with his science class as the Challenger space shuttle carrying seven people, including teacher Christa McAuliffe, broke apart and disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean.&#8220;It was a defining moment,&#8221; Hines said.Hines admitted it&#8217;s a challenge when someone asks him where he considers home. His NASA biography lists Harrisburg, but Hines said he wasn&#8217;t so sure about that.&#8220;Honestly, I&#8217;m not sure I do (consider Harrisburg home) because of Mountain Top,&#8221; he said. &#8220;My formative stuff all happened in that Mountain Top Area area. The goals I set for myself started while I was there. That&#8217;s really what I think I consider my home town.&#8221;Hines spoke Thursday off the heels of an interview process to become an astronaut that lasted 18 months.Hines made it through the first round of interviews, during which 120 people were selected from the pool of 18,000. He got a call back inviting him to the second round in April, an extensive eight-day process that saw him participate in several interviews as well as mental and physical health testing. He learned he was selected a few weeks ago.Throughout the process, Hines kept an even keel.&#8220;You spend the whole process preparing for when it was going to end,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Not getting the phone call and not moving on and trying to look at the silver lining about getting to (the first round). Then all of a sudden you&#8217;re at the end and you succeeded.&#8221;&#8220;It&#8217;s incredibly humbling,&#8221; he added.He credited much of his success to his parents and grandparents, who he said encouraged his passions by sending him to places like space camp in Alabama shortly after his fifth-grade year at Fairview.After a move to Pittsburgh, Hines returned to the area and enrolled at Crestwood High School. There, he took up basketball, track and cross country, and joked that he once almost blew up the chemistry lab. He graduated in 1993.Hines left the area to attend Boston University on a track scholarship. He earned a bachelor&#8217;s degree in aerospace engineering there in 1997, and a master&#8217;s in flight test engineering at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in 2008. He received a master&#8217;s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Alabama in 2010.Hines will complete 2 years of training before he becomes an assignable astronaut, he said.&#8220;At this point, the world is our oyster,&#8221; he said of himself and his fellow newly named astronauts. &#8220;It&#8217;s amazing just to have all these different opportunities in front of us.&#8221;And certainly, above them.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Crestwood graduate Bob Hines was selected this week as one of a dozen NASA astronauts from a pool of over 18,000 applicants. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_hines-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Crestwood graduate Bob Hines was selected this week as one of a dozen NASA astronauts from a pool of over 18,000 applicants. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Joe Dolinskyjdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>Where the newest class of NASA astronauts call home:Zena Cardman, 29, Williamsburg, VirginiaKalya Barron, 29, Richland, WashingtonMatthew Dominick,, 35, Wheat Ridge, ColoradoRobb Kulin, 33, Anchorage, AlaskaJasmin Moghbeli, 33, Baldwin, New YorkWarren Hoburg, 31, Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaBob Hines, 42, Mountain Top, PennsylvaniaRaja Chari, 39, Cedar Falls, IowaJonny Kim, 33, Los Angeles, CaliforniaFrank Rubio, 41, Miami, FloridaJessica Watkins, 29, Lafayette, ColoradoLoral O&#8217;Hara, 34, Sugarland, Texas</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</shirttailMeta></div>

NASA picks Crestwood grad as one of a dozen new astronauts