Sherry Mann on SpaceX: A Special Journey with Indigenous People and the Wailacki Tribe of Round Valley, North Calif.
In her role as commander, Mann will be responsible for ensuring the spacecraft is on track from the time it launches until it docks with the ISS and again when it returns home with the four Crew-5 astronauts next year. Never before has a woman taken on the commander role on a SpaceX mission, though a couple of women served in that position during the Space Shuttle Program.
“That will be a special part of my childhood and of my community and my family,” Mann told reporters during a news conference Saturday, just after arriving by plane to the launch site.
Her crewmates will be from a wide variety of cultures. She’ll fly alongside fellow NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, who is from Minnesota; Koichi Wakata of Japan’s space agency, called JAXA, or Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; and Anna Kikina, a Roscomos cosmonaut who joined this mission as part of a US-Russian ride-sharing agreement.
“I am very proud to represent Native Americans and my heritage,” Mann told reporters before launch. “I think it’s important to celebrate our diversity and also realize how important it is when we collaborate and unite, the incredible accomplishments that we can have.”
Mann grew up in Northern California and is a registered member of the Wailacki tribe of the Round Valley reservation, which encompasses several Indigenous tribes that were forced onto the same post-colonial reservation in the mid-1800s.
“A lot of my extended family still lives in that area,” Mann told Indian Country Today in August. “We actually got together a couple of weeks ago for a family reunion. I think that it is important for us to create those bonds.
Astronauts for the Artemis Mission at the International Space Station: Getting Off the Ground and Getting On The Moon Together, Revealed by Amanda Mann
A colonel in the Marine Corps, Mann began a military career as a second lieutenant in 1999, according to NASA’s website. Two years later, she began flight training and went on serve two deployments, supporting combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to NASA. She flew F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet during her time as a test pilot.
“I was in my mid 20s,” she told reporters in August. “I realized that being an astronaut was not only something that was a possible dream, but actually something that’s quite attainable. I didn’t realize that was an opportunity when I was a young girl.
I hope it inspires adults as well to follow your dreams and to realize that the limitations that we may have had in the past are starting to be broken down.
More than a dozen Black Americans — including five Black women — have traveled to space since Guion Bluford became the first to do so in 1983. The International Space Station has hosted hundreds of astronauts over the years, but no Black women have had the opportunity to live and work in space until now.
NASA has worked to make its astronauts more diverse. The space agency has a plan to get the first woman and first person of color on the moon.
NASA is still trying to get its mega moon rocket off the ground, the Artemis program hasn’t taken off yet. Mann was selected as one of 18 astronauts that could go to the moon.
A group of Artemis astronauts have been traveling together to the International Space Station where they conduct science experiments and keep the station running, as well as preparing for a journey to deep space later this decade.
Mann said that the space agency’s goal is to get into deep space, using the terms “low-Earth orbit” to refer to the area outside the International Space Station. We could be assigned to a Artemis mission in the future after we have gained a lot of experience flying in low- Earth orbit. Hopefully we can walk on the moon together one day. “
The Crew-6 team on board will include NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, a veteran of three space shuttle missions, and first-time flyer Warren Hoburg, as well as Sultan Alneyadi, who will be the second astronaut from the UAE ever to travel to space, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
SpaceX Native American Crew Dragon: The First Native American Woman to Travel to Space and Work with a Spacecraft Mission Commanding the Crew Dragon
After reaching orbit, NASA shared footage of the crew aboard their capsule, sharing their excitement as they explained that they brought along a “freefall indicator” — a small, stuffed doll in the likeness of Albert Einstein. The toy was left floating around because the crew entered weightlessness.
Einstein, who first conceptualized the Theory of Relativity, had the “happiest thought of his entire life” when he realized that a “person in freefall can feel their own weight,” Cassada explained in a dispatch from the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
We live in the same universe and exist within the same world. Sometimes we experience it in a very different way from our neighbors. She was seen pumping her fist when he spoke, as he said that everyone can keep that in mind and continue to do amazing things. “And do it together.”
Nicole Mann and her family greet each other while leaving the crew quarters. She is now the first Native American woman ever to travel to space. She’s the first woman ever to hold the role of mission commander for a SpaceX mission.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/world/spacex-nasa-crew-5-astronaut-launch-scn/index.html
Kikina, Rubio, Mann, Josh: Where are we going? Where do we go from here? How will we get there? How far will we go?
Officials at NASA have said repeatedly that joint operations with Russia on the ISS, where the two countries are the primary operators, will remain isolated from the fray. Kikina’s flight comes just weeks after NASA’s Dr. Frank Rubio launched to the ISS aboard a Roscosmos Soyuz capsule.
The Crew Dragon spaceship is travelling at a speed of 200 miles per hour above Earth to the International Space Station. The spacecraft is aiming to dock with the space station on Thursday around 5 p.m. ET.
SpaceX and NASA are preparing to launch a fresh crew to the International Space Station, continuing the public-private effort to keep the orbiting laboratory fully staffed and return astronaut launches to US soil. There are two NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut in this crew, and they are from all over the world.
After arriving at the Florida launch site on Saturday, Kikina told reporters she loved her crewmates. I feel good. We will do our job the best way: happy.”
In 1975, when the Apollo-Soyuz crew worked together, it became a symbol of post-Cold War cooperation between the United States and Russia. We are going to continue that.
In 2013 Mann and Josh also joined NASA. Mann is one of the closest friends on the planet.
SpaceX-NASA Collaboration: The First Five Flights in a Space Shuttle, Its Mission Plan, and Its First Astronomical Program
Wakata has previously flown on the NASA’s space shuttle and the Russia’s Soyuz spaceship, this is his fifth trip in that capacity.
“I still remember when I first flew and saw our beautiful home planet,” he recalled during an August press conference. I felt fortunate to be able to call this planet our home, it was such a beautiful planet.
The crew of the space station will take over operations from the crew of the SpaceX Crew-5 who arrived in October of 2022.
“Experiments will include studies on printing human organs in space, understanding fuel systems operating on the Moon, and better understanding heart disease,” according to NASA.
The idea behind the program was to move NASA into a customer role and allow private companies to design, build and test a new vehicle to serve astronauts while still giving the company ownership over the vehicle.
Officials at NASA have continued to extend the agency’s partnership with SpaceX, growing the value of their overall deal to encompass 15 total crewed missions at a value of more than $4.9 billion.
Since SpaceX developed the Crew Dragon under a fixed-price commercial contract, however, it retains ownership over the vehicle. The company can sell seats to anyone it wants. SpaceX has already conducted two Crew Dragon missions funded entirely by wealthy thrill-seekers. Private missions in the works.
The crew Dragon capsule is expected to take off from the Kennedy Space center at 1:45 a.m. on Monday.
The Crew-2 mission: A road trip from the International Space Station to meet the Russian astronauts in the wake of a space-based cosmonaut collision
They’re expected to spend up to six months on board the orbiting laboratory, carrying out science experiments and maintaining the two-decade-old station.
The mission comes as the Crew-5 astronauts currently on the ISS have been grappling with a separate transportation issue. In December, a Russian spaceship that was being used to bring three people to the space station sprang a coolant leak. After the capsule was deemed unsafe to return the astronauts, Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, launched a replacement vehicle on February 23. It arrived at the ISS on Saturday.
Fedyaev joined the Crew-2 team as a result of a ride-sharing agreement between NASA and Roscosmos. If one of the two companies that ferry people to the International Space Station experiences problems, the other can handle getting astronauts from both countries to the space station.
Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions spurred by its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Russia remains the United States’ primary partner on the ISS. NASA has always said the conflict has not interfered with cooperation between the countries.
Fedyaev said during the news briefing that space cooperation has a long history and that they are setting an example of how people should live on Earth.
He has been training with the cosmonauts for over two decades, and said it has always been great. Once you reach the space station, it is just one crew, one vehicle and we all have the same goal.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/26/world/spacex-nasa-crew-6-launch-walkup-scn/index.html
The Hazza Al Mansouri Cube: What Will We Do When We Come To the Space Station, and How Will We Look Out the Cupola?
Bowen grew up in Cohasset, Massachusetts, and studied engineering, obtaining an bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1986 and a master’s degree in ocean engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in 1993.
He was the first submarine officer to be picked by the space agency when he was chosen for the astronaut corps in 2000.
A native of Pittsburgh, Hoburg received a degree in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, which led to him becoming an assistant professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. He joined the NASA corps as an astrophysician.
We are going to be living in space for six months. When he was six months ago he thought about the journey for a long time.
But, Hoburg added, “I’m deeply looking forward to that first look out the cupola,” referring to the well-known area on the ISS that features a large window offering panoramic views of Earth.
Hazza Al Mansouri will be the first Emirati to complete a long stay in space, and so will his backup, Alneyadi.
In January, Alneyadi said he plans to bring Middle Eastern food to his crewmates while in space. A qualified martial artist, he will be wearing a kimono, the martial art’s traditional uniform.
“It’s hard to believe that this is really happening,” Alneyadi said at a news conference after arriving at Kennedy Space Center on February 21. I don’t want more of a team. I think we are ready — physically, mentally and technically.”
Two key missions will stop by the International Space Station during their stay. The first is the Boeing Crew Flight Test, which will mark the first astronaut mission under a Boeing-NASA partnership. Slated for April, the flight will carry NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the space station, marking the last phase of a testing and demonstration program Boeing needs to carry out to certify its Starliner spacecraft for routine astronaut missions.
There will be a group of astronauts going to the space station in May. That mission, which will be carried out by a separate SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, will include former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, now a private astronaut with the Texas-based space tourism company Axiom, which brokered and organized the mission.
He said it was another paradigm shift. “Those two events — huge events — in spaceflight happening during our increment, on top of all the other work we get to do, I don’t think we’re going to fully be able to absorb it until after the fact.”