A new SpaceX mission took off early today, but the novelty this time is that it includes the first black woman to join the International Space Station (ISS) and has the same number of women as men.
On the trip, under the name of Crew-4 and which marks a return to SpaceX’s manned launches in partnership with NASA, Jessica Watkins will go, who will become the first black woman to complete a journey like this, in addition to the astronaut Italian, Samantha Cristoforetti, who flies on behalf of the European Space Agency.
Also on board are US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines.
Although more than a dozen people of African descent, including four women, have traveled to space since Guion Bluford became the first to do so in 1983, no female has had the opportunity to live and work in space for an extended period of time, while the ISS has allowed more than 200 astronauts since 2000, highlighted a report by CNN.
Crew-4 on orbit pic.twitter.com/pNlRTTdSYE
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 27, 2022
Script Stewart Bluford is an American aerospace engineer, retired US Air Force officer, and fighter pilot. He was a NASA astronaut and the first African-American to go into space.
Jessica Watkins said at a press conference that this will undoubtedly be an important milestone for both the space agency and the country.
“I think it’s really just a tribute to the legacy of the black female astronauts that have come before me, as well as the exciting future that lies ahead.”
Watkins began his NASA career as an intern and previously held positions at the agency’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where he worked with the Mars rover Curiosity and As a geologist, she has studied the surface of the red planet.
For her part, the Italian Cristoforetti, who was on a previous mission to the ISS in 2014-2015, is the only woman in the astronaut corps of the European Space Agency.
Crew-4 flies aboard a new SapaceX spacecraft and is expected to arrive at the International Space Station on Thursday night.
The crew will be greeted by the group of astronauts already on board the ISS, including three from NASA, one from the European Space Agency who were part of SpaceX’s Crew-3 mission, plus three other Russian cosmonauts.
Those who traveled in Crew-4 will be put to work on various science experiments and space station maintenance tasks.
“Those reviews, numbering over 200, will include studies on aging immune systems, specific organic material alternatives, and cardiorespiratory effects during and after prolonged exposure to microgravity,” according to NASA.
Crew-3 is scheduled to return from space in September, after SpaceX launches its Crew-5 mission.
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Source: Latin Press