Jessica Watkins: NASA’s Unhidden Figure
Jessica Watkins will be the first Black women to live and work on an international space station. The NASA astronaut is a new member of the Artemis Team, whose goal is to focus on the development and training efforts for early Artemis missions. Her first mission to space will begin in April of 2022 and she will stay there for six months working as a mission specialist.
The Maryland born scientist began working on the Mars rover, called Curiosity in June 2017. With a background in geology, Watkins focused her graduate studies on the effect of landslides on the surfaces of both Earth and Mars. Ms. Watkins has a Bachelor of Science in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University, and a Doctorate in Geology from the University of California in Los Angeles. Her colleagues endearingly call her a “rock nerd,” a term she would agree with.
Ms. Watkins says the “a dream feels like a big, far away goal. This is going to be difficult to achieve and something that you might achieve much later in life.” For many African Americans, this may be an understandable feeling. One small step toward progress may not feel significant, but for Jessica Watkins, “what a dream is, what a dream realized is, is just putting one foot in front of the other on a daily basis.” The scientific successes of Ms. Watkins are a giant leap toward progress and more in-depth exploration of the universe.
According to NASA, Jessica Watkins completed two years of training as an astronaut candidate from 20217 to 2019, where she received extensive training with T-38 flight simulation, water and wilderness survival training, and more. Ms. Watkin’s is constantly reiterating the importance of teamwork in her job at NASA, something she learned from years of playing rugby for the women’s team at Stanford. She calls her time on the team “one of the best opportunities of her life,” since they were able to win a national championship. Through the work of Jessica Watkins, and the Artemis program, NASA plans to send the first woman and the next man to the moon in 2024.
