Jessica Andrea Watkins

ABOUT JESSICA ANDREA WATKINS

American astronaut and geologist known for being the first black woman to be assigned a mission on the International Space Station. She has also been selected as part of the Artemis team which looks to return humans to the moon.

She received her bachelor's degree in geological and environmental sciences from Stanford University and a PhD in geology from UCLA . She then went on to become a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology before becoming an astronaut candidate. She began training as an astronaut in 2017.

As an undergraduate at Stanford, she was a national Rugby player and was a member of the Division I national champion team in 2008. She played for the USA Eagles who came in third in the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens. She was the lead scorer for the US team during the World Cup.

She was born to Michael and Carolyn Watkins. At a young age, her family moved to Lafayette, Colorado.

She and Mae Jemison are both black female astronauts.