The First Black Female Astronaut to Serve a Long-Term Mission on the International Space Station Emerges

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Bomryeong Kim] The first Black female astronaut to carry out a long-term mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is set to be born.

According to NBC on the 18th (local time), Jessica Watkins of NASA will head to the ISS aboard SpaceX's crewed spacecraft Crew Dragon from Kennedy Space Center in Florida next April. She will be the second Black astronaut and the first Black female astronaut to perform a long-term mission on the ISS. Last year, Victor Glover, a Black male, became the first Black astronaut to undertake a long-term mission on the ISS.

The mission, named 'Crew-4,' will also include NASA astronauts Shell Lindgren and Robert Hines, as well as Samantha Cristoforetti from the European Space Agency (ESA). They will stay on the ISS for six months.

Watkins is a geologist who earned her bachelor's degree from Stanford University and her doctorate from the University of California. During this mission, she will carry out work related to her field of expertise.

Over the past 21 years, several Black astronauts have visited the space station, but most stayed for short periods of less than two weeks to complete their missions.