NASA Astronaut Corps their home agency but trained with and serve alongside their NASA counterparts. International astronauts, Payload Specialists, and Spaceflight Participants are not considered members of the NASA Astronaut Corps. The term "Astronaut Candidate" (informally "ASCAN") refers to individuals who have been selected by NASA as candidates for the NASA Astronaut Corps and are currently undergoing a candidacy training program at the Johnson Space Center. The most recent class of Astronaut Candidates was selected in 2017 after receiving more than 18,300 applications. Upon completion of a two-year training program, they will be promoted to the rank of Astronaut. Selection as an Astronaut
Chinese as a foreign language were studying the language in US colleges and universities. While far behind the more than 800,000 students who study Spanish, the number is more than three times higher than in 1986. The Institute's report includes graphs and details on the popularity of other languages. As of 2008, China had helped 60,000 teachers promote its language internationally, and an estimated 40 million people were studying Chinese as a second language around the world. Other than Standard Mandarin, Cantonese is the only other variant of Chinese that is widely taught as a foreign language. It is the official language of Hong Kong