CAPTION ONLY: PREPARING TO TAKE OFF INTO THE WILD BLACK YONDER

Navy Lt. Sharon L. Still, one of 19 new astronaut candidates, smiles next to an F-14 fighter at Oceana Naval Air Station, Virginia Beach, Va., on Monday. NASA chose the 33-year-old pilot and her fellow candidates from almost 3,000 applicants. Still will report in March to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she will be trained as a shuttle pilot. She is one of only three woman pilots chosen since the program began.