Last month, Nicole Mann journeyed to a place no other Native American woman had gone before—space. Mann made history when she blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS).
This was Mann’s first spaceflight since she began training to be an astronaut in 2013. She is the commander of the SpaceX Crew-5 mission run by NASA, the U.S. space agency. The four-person crew is set to spend six months on the ISS, a space laboratory where astronauts live and work.
The astronauts are going on spacewalks, upgrading equipment, and conducting experiments. They hope their work will help prepare astronauts for future missions to space.
Mann’s most important task is overseeing the flight home. Her job is to ensure that all goes smoothly when the rocket reenters Earth.
Mann is a member of the Wailacki, one of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Northern California. In a statement, Round Valley officials expressed their pride in Mann.
“She has opened a door and blazed a trail for Indian girls all over America, and especially from Round Valley,” the statement said.