NASA astronaut Janet Apps will make history in 2021 as the first black female astronaut to become a crew member on a mission to the International Space Station.
The space agency announced Tuesday that Bops’ CST-100 Starliner spacecraft will join apps Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for NASA’s first operational crew flight. Williams, who will begin his third expedition, and Cassada, his first, were assigned to the mission in August 2018. TwitterApps are a “strange addition,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstein. Apps responded with a video sharing her thanks.
Apps was selected as a member of the 2009 astronaut class after earning a doctorate in aerospace engineering and working for the CIA. Before she was about to join the ISS mission in June 2018, a situation suddenly passed on fellow female astronaut Serena ñó n-Chancellor, who became the first Hispanic woman to stay on the ISS.
At the time, Apps’ brother Henry claimed that racism at NASA was the cause of the switch – a sentiment that Apps never commented on in public. NASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Yahoo Life, but responded to Henry Apps’ claim in 2018. Washington Post“Diversity and inclusion are integral to NASA’s mission success and we have a diverse astronaut corps that reflects that approach.”
NASA confirmed to CNBC that six Black Americans have visited the space station in the past, however, nothing for an extended period, making Aps the first black woman astronaut to travel six months.
Apps shared nothing but her excitement on Twitter, writing that she was “on the lookout for a mission” and that she was sharing that excitement with crew members.
