NASA has assigned astronaut Jeanette Epps to NASA’s Boeing Starliner 1 mission, the first operational crew flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps. Credit: NASA
Epps will join NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada on a six-month expedition scheduled for launch in 2021 to the orbit laboratory. The flight follows NASA certification after a successful unmanned Orbital Flight Test-2 and Crew Flight Test with astronauts.
The spaceflight will be the first for Epps, who earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from LeMoyne College in 1992 in her hometown of Syracuse, New York. She earned a master’s degree in science in 1994 and a doctorate in aeronautical engineering in 2000, both from the University of Maryland, College Park.
While pursuing her doctorate, Epps was a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Project student, and wrote several articles in journals and conferences about her research. After graduating from high school, she worked for more than two years in a research laboratory, co-author of several patents, before being recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). She spent seven years as a CIA officer for technical intelligence before being selected as a member of the 2009 astronaut class.
NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps. Credit: NASA
NASA assigned Williams and Cassada to the Starliner 1 mission in August 2018. Space travel will be the first for Cassada and third for Williams, who spent long stays aboard the space station on expeditions 14/15 and 32 / 33.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with the U.S. aerospace industry as companies develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems that can transport crews to an orbit around an empty earth and to the space station. Commercial transportation to and from the station will provide extended utility, additional exploration time, and wider possibilities for discovery at the orbital outpost.
For nearly 20 years, the station has served as a critical test bed for NASA to understand and overcome the long-term challenges of space travel. As commercial companies focus on providing human transport services to and from low-Earth orbit, NASA will focus its focus on building spacecraft and missiles for deep-space missions.
