According to Indian Country Today, NASA is preparing to send the first Native American woman to space, Marine Colonel Nicole Onapo Mann.
Mann, a Wailacki clan member, will serve as mission commander for the Crew-5 mission, which will launch from SpaceX on September 29 to the International Space Station, and will be the flight engineer for ISS Expedition 68 during a six-month stay.
The Crew-5 mission will also take NASA’s Josh Casada, Japan’s Koichi Wakata, and Russia’s Anna Kekina to the International Space Station.
In 2002, John Harrington of the Chickasaw Nation became the first Native American to journey into space on the space shuttle Endeavor.
Mann’s experience is well-suited to spaceflight, having began her career as a Navy pilot before receiving a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
NASA selected Mann as one of eight astronaut nominees in 2013, and the group has since become influential, producing figures such as Anne McClain, Jessica Meir, and Crew Dragon pilot Victor Glover, some of whom, including Mann, have been shortlisted for NASA’s first Artemis manned missions to the moon.
NASA launches the first Native American woman into space.
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