Astronaut Jeanette Epps on course to become first black woman to join ISS crew

Astronaut Jeanette Epps is set to create history by becoming  the first black woman to serve as an International Space Station (ISS) crew member. Epss has been selected by NASA for a 2021 mission aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. 

According to NASA, Epps will join astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition to the ISS.

Epss was welcomed by both Josh and Sunita to the team.

The first operational crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is likely to takeoff in 2021 and it will follow NASA certification after a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 and Crew Flight Test with astronauts.

Epps has completed her bachelor’s degree in physics in 1992 from LeMoyne College in her hometown of Syracuse, New York.

It is to be noted that Epps was set to fly into orbit aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2018 but her name was struck off from the assignment at the last minute without an explanation.

Cassada and Williams were assigned by NASA to the Starliner-1 mission in August 2018