NASA is breaking new floor for astronauts. As Indian Country Today reports, the company lately confirmed that Marine Corps Col. Nicole Aunapu Mann would be the first Native American lady to journey to area. The Wailacki tribe member will function the mission commander for the SpaceX-powered Crew-5 mission heading to the International Space Station as quickly as September twenty ninth. When she arrives, Mann will probably be ISS Expedition 68’s flight engineer throughout a six-month keep.

The Crew-5 mission will even ferry NASA’s Josh Cassada, Japan’s Koichi Wakata and Russia’s Anna Kikina to the ISS. Chickasaw Nation member John Herrington was the primary Native American of any gender to go to area, flying aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2002.

Mann has a background well-suited to spaceflight. She began her profession as a Navy aviator and has flown the F/A-18 Hornet whereas supporting missions operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. She additionally earned her grasp’s diploma in mechanical engineering from Stanford. NASA selected Mann as one in every of eight astronaut candidates in 2013. That group has since change into influential, producing influential figures like Anne McClain, Jessica Meir and Crew Dragon pilot Victor Glover. Some of them, together with Mann, have made NASA’s shortlist for the primary crewed Artemis missions to the Moon.

For Mann, this primary spaceflight is not simply historic. In her interview with ICT, she noticed the journey as smashing “barriers” for Native American youngsters who did not suppose they may change into astronauts. It will not be shocking if extra comply with her earlier than lengthy.