Photo: Joel Kowsky/getty
Jessica Watkins has become the first Black woman to depart for an extended mission at the International Space Station.
The spaceflight made history on Wednesday as it launched Watkins andthree other astronautsinto space from the Kennedy Space Center to embark on a long-duration space mission.
Speaking toNPRprior to her assignment, Watkins, who is also reportedly the fifth Black woman to ever travel to space, said of her accomplishment, “I think it really is just a tribute to the legacy of the Black women astronauts that have come before me, as well as to the exciting future ahead.”
Joe Burbank/getty
As part of the fourth seat on Crew Dragon for Space X’s Crew-4 mission, Watkins joins the International Space Crew to conduct scientific research, station maintenance, training, and more over a period of several months orbiting the earth via the spacecraft.
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NASA’s mission also includes two other NASA astronauts — Robert Hines and Kjell Lindgren — as well as European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. The group rocketed into space around 4 a.m. ET on Wednesday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Watkins' history-making venture afterVictor Glover’s successful journey via SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission as thefirst Black astronautto ever live on the station. (He was not the first Black astronaut aboard the station, but those before him have only made brief stays, according toThe New York Times.)
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Watkins, whose current home base is in Colorado, has previously worked as a geologist after earning a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Born in Maryland, Watkinsstarted her careerwithin the space agency as an intern before working at various research centers in California. During her astronaut selection in 2017, she served as a post-doctoral fellow on the science team for the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity.
“A dream feels like a big faraway goal that’s going to be difficult to achieve or something you might achieve much later in life,” Watkins said in the clip. “But in reality, what a dream realized is just one putting one foot in front of the other on a daily basis. If you put enough of those footprints together, eventually they become a path towards your dreams.”
source: people.com
