Jessica Watkins Is The First Black Woman Astronaut On International Space Station Mission

The 33-year-old NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins made history on April 27 by becoming the first-ever Black woman to depart for an extended mission in space to the International Space Station.

Watkins and three other astronauts took off into space from the Kennedy Space Center on Merrit Island, Florida, as part of the SpaceX Crew-4 mission. She’s the fifth Black woman to ever travel to space, and the first-ever Black woman on an International Space Station mission.

“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.” – she said of her accomplishment.

Jessica Watkins will be the first Black woman astronaut to complete a long-term mission on board the ISS. #Crew4 https://t.co/QNN46dMvSh pic.twitter.com/5RXqmQmrJ3

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 27, 2022

Back in November, NASA announced that Watkins would be the fourth and final member of the Crew Dragon for the Crew-4 mission. When she boards the ISS, she will become the first Black woman to join the crew for scientific research, station maintenance, training, and more.

Watkins earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, and a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles. She began her career as an intern before working at various research centers in California, and she served as a post-doctoral fellow on the science team for Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory rover during her astronaut selection back in 2017. She revealed that the expedition into space has been a dream of hers since she was a kid.

Jessica Watkins is set to become the first Black woman to serve a long duration mission on the International Space Station. Watkins is potentially on track to take on upcoming moon missions.

More from the interview with @LesterHoltNBC: https://t.co/MHDebsf1Et pic.twitter.com/cfEDz4c3EP

— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) April 26, 2022

“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. 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.” – she shared.

Despite her achievement, this highlights how far Black women still have to go in this white, male-dominated profession.

Source: Upworthy

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