Maryland astronaut named to SpaceX crew ahead of possible moon mission

Jessica Watkins, who has already made NASA history, is now set for a second trip to space.

The astronaut from Gaithersburg, Maryland, was announced last week as the spacecraft commander for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission expected to launch later this year.

Here’s what to know about Watkins.

Who is Jessica Watkins?

Watkins was born in 1988 in Gaithersburg, Maryland, located about 25 miles northwest from downtown Washington DC.

It was in Maryland where she first had dreams of going to space. While attending an after-school program at Judith Resnik Elementary School in Gaithersburg as a 9-year-old, she learned the school was named after the second American woman who went to space.

“I learned that you could go into space as a career, and I was definitely hooked,” she told Stanford Magazine in 2022.

She later moved to Lafayette, Colorado, which she considers her hometown, according to NASA.

After graduating with her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, Watkins received her doctorate from UCLA in 2015.

“Jessica Watkins has been shaping the future of space exploration since her days at UCLA,” the university said.

What experience does Jessica Watkins have with NASA?

A geologist by training, Watkins was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017 after working on Mars rover science teams.

She first left earth in 2022 as the mission specialist on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission, logging 170 days in space.

It was a historic mission for Watkins, who became the first Black woman to live and work at the International Space Station.

“I think it really is just a tribute to the legacy of the Black women astronauts that have come before me, as well as to the exciting future ahead,” Watkins said during an NPR interview. 

NASA said her mission duties included “maintaining the space station and contributing to science experiments that not only might improve life on Earth, but also allow researchers to learn more about the effects of long duration spaceflight on the human body.”

In addition to her spaceflight experience, Watkins was named to NASA’s Artemis team, a group of astronauts eligible for future missions to the Moon.

Her experience will now bring her back to the ISS. Watkins will join Luke Delaney, Joshua Kutryk and Sergey Teteryatinikov to replace the Crew-12 mission at the space station.

NASA said the mission is targeted for September.