Space explorer Jessica Meir’s Lifelong Dream Just Came True as She Begins first Space Mission
NASA space explorer Jessica Meir launched on her first venture into space (Sept. 25) to start a six-month mission on board the International Space Station. Meir lifted off from Kazakhstan in the Soyuz MS-15 shuttle at 9:57 a.m. EDT (1357 GMT) close by individual fellow astronauts Hazza al-Mansouri, the main United Arab Emirates space traveler, and Oleg Skripochka, a Russian cosmonaut.
The spacecraft successfully docked with the space station at 3:42 EDT (1942 GMT) this evening. Meir is prepared to start her central goal with Expedition 61/62, where she will take a shot at an assortment of logical examinations and perform upkeep on the ship close by eight different space explorers on the station.
“I’m incredibly excited. It’s something that I’ve been dreaming and thinking about for my entire life almost since I was 5 years old, so, still a little bit surreal right now to imagine that it’s finally coming true,” Meir told Space.com in the video above.
“I think what I’m looking forward to the most is, as a scientist, understanding more about all of these different effects of microgravity in the spaceflight environment, and participating as both an operator and a subject for a wide variety of investigations,” she included. “I’m also really looking forward to the potential to do a spacewalk since that’s really what I’ve always envisioned myself doing really my whole life.”
Space explorers on the space station do a wide assortment of examinations. “Were doing all kinds of science up there, from those physiology experiments to combustion experiments to protein crystal growth. Really any type of science — you name it,” Meir said. She noticed that the numerous analyses she will take a shot freely incorporate an examination of how spaceflight influences human arteries.
This exploration “will be pivotal for our longer duration missions in the future when we return to the moon and when we go to Mars,” Meir said.
NASA space traveler Christina Koch, who is ready the space station, shared her energy about the Soyuz team propelling to the station nearby a dazzling photograph of the journey as observed from space, on Twitter. “What it looks like from @Space_Station when your best friend achieves her lifelong dream to go to space. Caught the second stage in progress! We can’t wait to welcome you onboard, crew of Soyuz 61!” she said.
At the point when gotten some information about NASA’s Artemis program and how she would feel about being the principal lady on the moon, Meir answered conclusively: “I would absolutely love to be the first woman on the moon. That would be my ideal mission. It is time for us to go back to the moon, and I think that we will be able to do that in the near future and I would love to be the one on that mission,” she said.
Meir has a differed and achieved history. Prior to this mission, she had earned a four year college education in biology, an ace’s in space contemplates and a doctorate in sea life science. She has worked in human physiology inquire about at Lockheed Martin’s Human Research Facility and took an interest in decreased gravity research flights with NASA. Meir has additionally studied bar-headed geese, and has functioned as an aquanaut at the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) simple mission.