In this image from 2018, NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps trains in a U.S. spacesuit at the Johnson Space Center.
Epps is assigned to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission, the first operational crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station. She will join NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition planned for launch in 2021 to the orbiting space laboratory. The flight will follow NASA certification after a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 and Crew Flight Test with astronauts.
The spaceflight will be the first for Epps, who earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering in 2000, from the University of Maryland, College Park. While earning her doctorate, Epps was a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Project fellow, authoring several journal and conference articles on her research.
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Image Credit: NASA