SpaceX launched its crewed space mission to the International Space Station on Wednesday. On board and heading the expedition as mission commander is Nicole Mann — the first Native American woman to go to space.
She's a Marine Corps pilot and NASA astronaut, as well as a member of the Wailacki tribe of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Her milestone moment comes 20 years after John Herrington became the first Native American man to walk in space, in 2002.
Nicole Mann
Robert Markowitz/NASA
Mann's Crew-5 mission aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Also on board is Josh Cassada, Anna Kikina and Koichi Wakata. All four are traveling to the International Space Station for a six-month mission, during which they plan to conduct more than 200 experiments, which will include spacewalks and 3D-printing human tissue.
Mann detailed some of the crew's plans to NPR's All Things Considered this past summer.
She said she hoped her trip to space can encourage younger generations.
"These young women, maybe Natives, maybe people from different backgrounds that realize that they have these opportunities and [that] potentially these barriers that used to be there are starting to be broken down," she said. "And so hopefully that will inspire that younger generation."
