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Saturday 6 August 2022 – 1:06 PM
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Saturday 6 August 2022 – 1:06 PM
More than half a century following the first man landed on the moon, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, now the American “NASA” agency is preparing to choose the first woman to land on the moon among the 9 female astronauts in the agency.
Now, in 3 years, NASA has reduced a long list of women to just 9; To choose only one of them will go down in history through the journey that will start in 2025.
The British “Daily Mail” website took a look at the 9 astronauts, among whom NASA will choose one to become the first in history to land on the moon, including an Israeli girl named “Jessica Meir”.
1- Christina Koch
She is the record holder for the longest solo spaceflight by a woman, spending 328 days in orbit during her trip to the International Space Station, which includes many nationalities, between 2019 and 2020.
Christina conducted 6 spacewalks lasting 42 hours and 15 minutes, on a record-breaking mission to the International Space Station.
From a young age, she wanted to become an astronaut, and joined the “Rocket Club” in her middle school.
Christina, 43, previously worked in Antarctica at Amundsen-Scott South Pole and Palmer Station, while later contributing instruments to the Juno spacecraft and the Van Allen space probe.
2- Nicole Mann
She is a Marine Corps colonel and former “test pilot” who has conducted 47 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has logged over 2,500 flying hours in 25 different aircraft.
Nearly a decade ago, she was one of 8 candidates selected from over 6,300 applicants for astronaut training at NASA, and then completed her astronaut training in 2015.
3- Anne McLean
Anne McClain, 43, a former US Army helicopter pilot and Iraq veteran who played rugby in the Women’s Premier League, credits the sport with giving her “audacity, toughness and mental focus” for her success as an astronaut.
She was initially scheduled to perform her first all-female spacewalk alongside Christina Koch during Women’s History Month in March 2019, but “spacesuit sizing” issues put her off.
4- Jessica Meir
She is 45 years old, Israeli. At the age of 13 she attended a youth space camp at Purdue University, Neil Armstrong University, and then was eventually selected to join NASA in 2013, before conducting physiological training, survival training, flight lessons and a wide range of technical training at the NASA Centers. space around the world.
She worked as an aeronautical engineer on the International Space Station for missions 61 and 62, following its launch into space on September 25, 2019, and the newspaper “Daily Mail” says that her arrival came in an unusual period at the station because there are 9 people on board.
The British newspaper added that Meir completed the first female spacewalk alongside Christina Koch in October 2019, and that she speaks English and Russian, which are needed to train astronauts, and Swedish because her mother is from Sweden and her father is from Israel.
Before becoming an astronaut, Meir focused her career as a scientist on animal physiology in extreme environments, and also participated in Smithsonian Institution diving expeditions to Antarctica and Belize, and was active in scientific outreach efforts. , but did not clarify the relationship of the military uniform with environmental work.
Meir played the flute, piccolo and saxophone when she was young, and read classical literature.
When asked how she would feel if she was chosen to become the first woman in history to land on the moon, she said: “I would be very excited and lucky. I have to think long and hard regarding what my first words will be when I go out on the moon. The big one.”
5- Jasmine Mujibili
She is the mother of two girls, 39, who was chosen last March to be the commander of NASA’s “Space Crew 7” mission to the International Space Station.
Jasmine is expected to participate in her first spaceflight in 2023 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, following becoming a NASA astronaut in 2017.
Born in what was then West Germany, to an Iranian family, before her parents immigrated to the United States, she later earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering with information technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she played volleyball and basketball, and also graduated with honors. at the U.S. Navy Experimental School in Patuxent River, Maryland.
She worked as a test pilot in the Marine Corps, conducted more than 150 missions, and achieved 2,000 flight hours in more than 25 different aircraft. on the panels.
6- Kate Robbins
She became the 60th woman to fly in space when she was launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on July 7, 2016.
During her mission, she became the first person to sequence DNA in space, and during her two flights, she spent 300 days in space, the fourth-longest time by an American astronaut.
Robins, a microbiologist and NASA astronaut, also has a PhD in cancer biology, where she later researched treatments for Ebola and Lassa viruses, while helping to develop a model of smallpox infection.
During her last trip to the International Space Station, she worked on a heart experiment to study how changes in gravity affect cells in the heart and blood vessels at the cellular and tissue level.
7- Jessica Watkins
She is currently working as a mission specialist on NASA’s SpaceX Crew 4 to the International Space Station, which was launched on April 27, 2022.
She also worked at NASA’s Ames Research Center and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and was a collaborator on a science team for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity.
Born in Colorado, she received a Bachelor of Science in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
8- Stephanie Wilson
She became the second brunette to go into space, and is a veteran of 3 space shuttle missions to the International Space Station, in 2006, 2007 and 2010.
Stephanie is NASA’s oldest African-American astronaut and the most traveled in space, with more than 42 days in orbit, and if she is chosen as the first woman, she will also take the title of “oldest person to walk on the moon,” surpassing the record set by him. Alan Shepard, 47 years and 80 days old, in 1971.
Stephanie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Harvard University and a Master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Texas. In 2009, 2013, and 2017, she served on the Astronaut Selection Board, and currently serves as the Chief of Staff for the Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch.
