University of Maryland graduate set to be first Black woman on International Space Station in 2021
A University of Maryland graduate is going to be the first Black woman on an International Space Station crew. The launch is set for next year.
Jeanette Epps, who earned a master’s degree in science in 1994 and a doctorate in aerospace engineering in 2000 from College Park, is joining NASA’s first Boeing CST-100 Starliner mission, according to a news release this week from NASA.
The flight will go to the ISS in 2021 for a six-month expedition and it will be Epps’ first flight. She will be with two other astronauts, Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada.
Epps worked as a NASA graduate student researchers project fellow while earning her doctorate and wrote several journals and conference articles on her research. After graduate school, she co-wrote several patents while working in a research laboratory. After two years, the CIA recruited her to be a technical intelligence officer. Epps joined NASA in 2009.
