Jessica Watkins
Jessica Andrea Watkins is an American NASA astronaut, geologist, aquanaut, and former rugby player born on May 14, 1988, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. She graduated from Fairview High School, Boulder, Colorado, earned a Bachelor of Science in geological and environmental sciences from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of California.
She began her NASA career early as an undergraduate and held many roles after her graduation, including the Chief Geologist for the NASA Spaceward Bound Crew 86, at the Mars Desert Research Station. Selected as an astronaut candidate in 2017, Watkins made history in April 2022 when she and a crew launched into space aboard the SpaceX Dragon, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She became the first Black woman to serve a long-duration mission on the International Space Station. She is part of the Artemis Team selected in 2020 for the planned 2024/2025 return of humans to the moon.
