Two decades after the International Space Station became humanitarian homes in orbit, Jessica Watkins, an Astronaut NASA, was ready to become the first black woman to join her crew for a long-term mission.
NASA announced on Tuesday that Watkins, a geologist who was appointed in Lafayette, Colorado, would function as a mission specialist about the next astronaut flight, known as the Space Station.
He will join two other NASA astronauts and an Italian astronaut for a six-month mission above the Orbital Laboratory scheduled to begin in April.
In an interview, Watkins said he hoped to go to the space station would give an example for children’s children, and “especially young girls, to be able to see the sample way they can participate and succeed.
He added,” For me, that Really important, and if I can contribute to it in a certain way, it must be worth it., Only seven of the 249 people have climbed the Space Station since creation in 2000 black.
Victor Glover, an Naval Commander and trial who joined the Astronaut NASA corps in 2013, became a member of the first black crew in a regular long-term mission at the station; His mission began last year.
Six black astronauts that have visited the Space Station before Glover are part of the crew of the shuttle which stayed for about 12 days.
In 1983, Guion S.
Bluford became the first black people who went into space, and Mae Jemison was the first black woman who did it, in 1992.
In 1961, Ed Dwight, an air force pilot, was a black astronaut trainee First NASA, but he was not chosen.
In September, Sian Proctor, a member of the Spacex4 inspiration for amateur astronauts who went to orbit but not to the space station, became the first black woman to function as a spacecraft pilot.
Jeanette Epps, an astronaut NASA, was originally set to become the first black woman who lived and worked at the Space Station, in 2018.
But she was replaced by other astronauts for reasons NASA had not yet explained.
He remained scheduled for a six-month mission as part of the first operational astronaut crew to fly Boeing’s Starliner Capsule to the station.
But the development of capsules is the years behind the schedule.
This summer, a set of valves were wrongly found in the Starliner propulsion system before the trial that was not postponed further delayed the Epss mission to the end of the early 2022.
Watkins completed undergraduate studies at Stanford University and got a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a landslide study on Mars and Earth.
He has worked with the NASA Science Laboratory, on projects including the Mars Curiosity Rover mission, and joined Astronaut Corps in 2017.
Being an astronaut, he said, was “something I dreamed of for a very long time since I was quite a bit, but clearly Not something I thought would happen.
“Last year, he included 18 astronauts NASA to represent the artemis agency program, the multibilion-dollar effort to restore humans, including the first woman and the first person color, to the surface of the month in 2025.
Astronots NASA was sent to Moon during the Apollo program all white men.
In recent years, agency has tried to make its astronaut program represent more American population.
“Exploring the space outside Leo is a big effort, and we must have the participation of all parts of our society,” Ken Bowersox, a senior official in the Wing Operation of Space NASA and former Astronauts, referred to the events last week, referring to the goals of the agency outside Low earth orbit.
Watkins had been practicing for travel to space for months before his crew task.
He has completed the Spacewalk simulation at NASA’s Johns Space Center in Houston and learned the ins and outs of the space station, a soccer size science laboratory 260 miles above the earth.
“Of course it doesn’t disappear on me that we have arrived at this time in history,” he said about being the first black woman to do a long-term mission.
“This moment is not useful if we cannot focus on work and perform well.”