Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann Will Be First Native American Woman To Travel To Space

Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann is set to become the first Native American woman to travel to space. The crew will board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft this year and Mann will serve as the mission commander.

Nicole Aunapu Mann will head to International Space Station, where the liftoff is planned for September 29. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the upcoming mission marks Mann’s first spaceflight.

Mann will be joined on the Crew-5 mission by NASA astronaut John Cassada, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata.

The astronaut was born in California and is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. She holds the rank of colonel in the US Marine Corps. The Navy aviator was deployed twice aboard aircraft carriers flying missions in support of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mann also has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

In 2013, Nicole Aunapu Mann was selected by NASA as one of the eight members of the NASA astronaut class that focuses on space station operations. In an interview with Indian Country Today, Mann said it was important for Native American children to know that “some of those barriers that used to be there are really starting to get broken down.” The publication noted that Mann was an enrolled member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in Northern California.

Her NASA training includes spacewalks, intensive instruction in International Space Station systems, robotics, Russian language training, robotics, T-38 flight training, physiological training, and water and wilderness survival training.

Mann has achieved several awards, including two Air Medals, two Navy Commendation Medals and Achievement Medals, and two Marine Corps Commendation Medals and Achievement Medals.

Mann will make history as the first Native American woman to travel to space. In 2002, NASA astronaut and a member of the Chickasaw Nation John Herrington became the first Native American to travel to space. He had flown aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour and made history.

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