Nicole Mann becomes the first Native American woman to go to space
Marine Colonel Nicole Aunapu Mann became the first Native American woman to venture into space after SpaceX initiated a space mission to the International Space Station. The mission is named ‘Crew 5’, and Mann made yet another history by becoming the first woman ever to serve as the mission commander for the SpaceX mission.
Crew-5 mission aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endurance, comprising The SpaceX Falcon rocket, successfully launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. Mann’s colleague at NASA, Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina are the other three astronauts who have joined the mission. Following the Dragon hatch opening at 6:49 p.m. EDT, Crew-5 joined the Expedition 68 crew of NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Frank Rubio, and Jessica Watkins, Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency), and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin.
During their six-month mission, they will likely conduct more than 200 experiments, including spacewalks and 3D-printing human tissue.
Born in Petaluma, California, she is a registered member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Nicole went to United States Naval Academy (BS) and Stanford University before joining the US Marine Corps. She received six medals for her incredible service and was deployed to war-prone areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
NASA selected Nicole Mann to be an astronaut in 2013 as one of eight members of the 21st astronaut class. After completing the training in 2015, she rendered her services as the Safety and Training Officer and Assistant to the Chief Astronaut for Exploration. She guided the astronaut corps in the development of the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System, and Exploration Ground Systems for missions to the Moon.
However, Col Mann had to wait a long time to make her dream debut in space. She was initially supposed to be a part of a mission in Boeing’s Starliner capsule, but the vehicle was so late getting into service that Nasa decided to include her in the ‘Crew 5’ mission instead of the original plan.
Nicole Mann’s journey will be a source of inspiration for the native Americans who are subjected to discrimination. She expressed her optimism that the mission might inspire young native American children to pursue their dreams and help them realise that barriers can be broken. ” I hope it will inspire young Native American children to follow their dreams and realise that some of those barriers that are there or used to be there are being broken down,” she remarked.
