NASA Astronaut Zena Cardman
Zena Cardman was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017. Cardman served as commander for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission, which launched on August 1, 2025, to the International Space Station. Upon her arrival to the space station, she became a flight engineer of Expeditions 73/74 for a long-duration science expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission safely splashed down on January 15, 2026 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, concluding a more than five-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
Quick Facts
The Virginia native holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology and a Master’s of Science in Marine Sciences from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Cardman’s experience includes multiple Antarctic expeditions.
At the time of her selection in June 2017, Cardman was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at the Pennsylvania State University, where she studied nitrogen- and sulfur-cycling in chemosynthetic biofilms.
Biography
Zena Cardman
Learn more about astronaut Zena Cardman, including her flight experience, hobbies, education, background and more.
View Zena Cardman Biography about Zena Cardman
