The fifth crewed mission of the NASA Commercial Crew Program will leave in the fall. Four astronauts are going to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Crew Dragon. They will join the crew of the International Space Station and conduct science experiments when they arrive. Nicole Aunapu Mann is a naval aviator with a distinguished military career. She will be the first Indigenous woman to travel to space.
Nicole Aunapu Mann is a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes and was born in 1977. Mann received a degree in mechanical engineering from the US Naval Academy. She received an M. Sc in mechanical engineering after completing her graduate studies in the US Marines. She went on to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan after graduating from flight training at the naval air station in Florida.
Mann earned the rank of Colonel with the Aviation arm of the US Marine Corps. She flew a total of 47 combat missions and accumulated over 2,500 hours of flight time. Mann was selected as a member of NASA's Astronaut Group 21 and completed her training in 2015. She is a NASA engineer and has worked on the Exploration Ground Systems.
The first crewed test flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliners took place in October 2021. Mann became the Spacecraft Commander due to technical issues with the uncrewed flight. She will be joined by fellow NASA astronauts Josh and Koichi, as well as Russia's Anna. Mann will lead the entire flight, including the launch from Kennedy Space Center and docking with the International Space Station.
She is looking forward to the science on board that will benefit the humans. Mann is proud to be the first Indigenous woman in space.
“It’s very exciting. I think it’s important that we communicate this to our community, so that other Native kids, if they thought maybe that this was not a possibility or to realize that some of those barriers that used to be there are really starting to get broken down.”
Mann will work as the flight engineer on the expedition. Approximately 250 scientific experiments will be conducted in microgravity during their six-month stay on the International Space Station. Mann is excited about an experiment that will use 3D-printing to make living tissue samples. The force of gravity makes it hard to grow the cells that make up the stock, but in microgravity it is possible to create cells with a more intact structure. The experiments are expected to help develop bioprinted replacement organs. Mann said that.
“One of the ones that I’m looking most forward to is called the biofabrication facility. And it is literally 3D printing human cells, which to me sounds so futuristic, right? We’re not there yet. However, we have successfully printed some heart cells as well as part of the meniscus of a knee. And so this facility has flown, and then come and printed cells and then come back to Earth. They made changes, they learned it flew again, came back to Earth, they made changes, and they’re about to fly it again. So that’ll be our chance to participate.”
Mann is looking forward to the possibility of a spacewalk. Mann said that this was the most enjoyable part of her training. This consisted of getting into a pressure suit and doing practice runs with a mock up of the International Space Station in a pool. These runs are for the training of the astronauts who will be in space. Mann described it that way.
“[E]ach time you move, you’re working against the pressure of that suit, of that 4.3 psi. So it’s like a marathon. The training run is six hours long, you’re physically exhausted, you’re mentally exhausted. You’re done at the end of one of these runs, but everybody says it is the most realistic training for doing a spacewalk in space. And being under the water and climbing along the space station and doing these tasks. It is incredible. It is some of the coolest training I think that we do. And hopefully I’ll have an opportunity to do that in space for real.”
Mann's Personal Preference Kit (PPK) will include some hand- picked items that astronauts are allowed to take with them. The dimensions of the Crew Dragon can't be larger than 20.32 cm x 5.18 cm. Mann can't say what gifts he has for his family because they're a surprise. I have a dream catcher that my mother gave me when I was a child. It was with me all the time.
September 29th, 2022, is when the mission is expected to launch. This mission will be the first one for the two of them and they will serve as the mission pilot and mission specialist. Wakata will be on this mission for the fifth time and will serve as a mission specialist. They will join Mann as flight engineers when they arrive at the station.
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