The first crew members for NASA’s ambitious Artemis program were announced this week, with a moon landing planned for 2024.
Nicole Mann didn’t have childhood aspirations to become an astronaut. A native of Petaluma and graduate of Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, Mann was interested math and science and knew she wanted to serve in the military.
It wasn’t until later in life that Mann realized that she wanted to be an astronaut - or that it was even a possibility.
Of 3,500 applicants, Mann was one of 15 selected for NASA in 2013 and is currently on the flight test crew for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. This week, Vice President Mike Pence announced she’d be joining the Artemis mission, one of nine women named to the 18-member team.
One of those women will be the first to walk on the moon, meaning she’s standing on the precipice of history.
Artemis is about more than simply a moon landing.
"Our goal is to have sustained operations on the lunar surface," she said. "It’s not just going to visit and then coming back, but it’s living and working on the moon for an extended period of time."
Mann hopes the Artemis mission inspires and reignites our collective passions about space.
"There’s so much excitement going on in the world and in space exploration that I hope the younger generation will be inspired," she told KCBS Radio.
If successful, the Artemis mission could hold the key to future mission to Mars.
Mann is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and was a test pilot in the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet. She deployed twice aboard aircraft carriers in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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