Nicole Aunapu Mann becomes first Native American woman in space
Yesterday NASA launched a mission taking the first Native American woman into space, along with a crew of astronauts from all over the world!
Nicole Aunapu Mann, a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, filled that historic role. “I am very proud to represent Native Americans and my heritage,” she said. “I think it’s important to celebrate our diversity and also realize how important it is when we collaborate and unite, the incredible accomplishments that we can have.”
The mission launched at 12 PM ET on Wednesday, Oct. 5, and is headed for the International Space Station (ISS), where the astronauts will spend the next five months. There, they’ll serve as full-time staff for the station.
Mann was an adult when she discovered she wanted to be an astronaut—and that she could be!
“I was in my mid 20s,” Mann told reporters. “I realized that being an astronaut was not only something that was a possible dream, but actually something that’s quite attainable. I think as a young girl, I just didn’t realize that that was an opportunity and a possibility.”
Early NASA astronauts were all white men, but since 1983 that’s been changing, as NASA’s been working to increase the diversity of their astronauts. The historic mission, and Mann’s achievement, paves the way for others to follow in her footsteps.
To learn more about human spaceflight and exploration, see Wonders from the Webb Telescope & Beyond, now showing in Liberty Science Center’s Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium! Click here to learn more.
