NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins waves to the audience during an astronaut graduation ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in January 2020. In April 2022, she will become a woman of skin. first black to live and work on the International Space Station.
Mark Felix / AFP via Getty Images
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Mark Felix / AFP via Getty Images
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins waves to the audience during an astronaut graduation ceremony at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in January 2020. In April 2022, she will become a woman of skin. first black to live and work on the International Space Station.
Mark Felix / AFP via Getty Images
For the first time, a black woman will live and work on the International Space Station, starting next April.
Jessica Watkins, who was born in Maryland but now considers Colorado home, is expected to spend six months on the ISS as a mission specialist. It will be her first mission in space.
The crew for this mission – known as Crew-4 – will be Wednesday The rotation of the astronauts on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to the ISS.
Watkins joined the ranks of NASA astronauts in 2017 and has worked in the space agency research centers, especially on Mars rover, Curiosity.
Watkins says that growing up she admired astronauts such as Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space, and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. And she hopes her work on the ISS will inspire more children of color to yearn for space travel.
Watkins told Colorado Public Radio last year. “I just hope young girls across the country feel the same way now.”
And the International Space Station may not be Watkins’ only stop in space. With a background in the geology and study of the Martian surface, Watkins would “definitely” be interested in traveling to the red planet, “as long as we have a return trip,” she joked. in the CPR interview.
