Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann to Make History
NASA astronaut Nicole Mann is proud to be the first Native American woman in space.
Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann, of the Wailacki Round Valley Indian tribes, is set to become the first Native American woman to go to space as part of NASA’s new crew to the International Space Station.
The first Native American man in space was John Herrington in 2002.
Mann will lead NASA’s Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station on October 3, 2022. “I feel very proud,” said Mann. “It’s important that we celebrate our diversity and really communicate that specifically to the younger generation.”
Mann, a former fighter pilot who flew U.S. combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, heads up an international crew that includes NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, Japan’s Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina. The crew will launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and relieve Crew-4 from the International Space Station.
Mann is a member of the Artemis Team, a select group of astronauts charged with focusing on the development and training efforts for early Artemis missions. Mann, who holds a master’s in mechanical engineering, was recruited into NASA in 2013, finishing training two years later.
As mission commander on the SpaceX spacecraft called Dragon, Mann is leading all phases of the flight from launch to re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. She will also serve as the Expedition 68 flight engineer on the space station.
Mann and her International Space Station crew will be continuing NASA’s landmark Artemis mission. “This is a huge part of our larger mission under Artemis to go to the moon and eventually to Mars,” she said at an Aug. 4 NASA press conference. The crew will live on board the Space Station for six months to complete their mission of conducting approximately 250 scientific experiments in the space station.
