NASA Astronaut Jessica Watkins Shares Her Historic Journey To The Space Station

CNN — Jessica Watkins is a self-proclaimed “rock nerd” with a doctorate in geology So when she embarked on her first space mission as a member of NASA's Astronaut Corps, she brought photos of family and friends — and a few rocks.

"Of course I had to," Watkin, 34, said in an interview during his six-month stay on the International Space Station, launched with his SpaceX Crew-4 teammates in April before returning to Earth in October His career went down in history.

Watkins became the fifth black woman to travel to space and the first to join an expedition to a space station She became an official crew member of the orbital laboratory which has hosted more than 260 people in its nearly 23-year history.

As a young girl, Watkins dreamed of space travel and even wrote a poem called "My Little Astronaut," describing that ambition in elementary school, her mother told CNN Affiliate WESH-TV in Orlando before the mission her daughter.

That desire became a reality through the zeal she brought to her academic pursuits, Watkins said in a January interview And Watkins hopes she can instill that enthusiasm for knowledge in young people who aspire to be like her.

“One of the most important things to be able to share is just the importance of dreaming big,” Watkins said, “and really being able to find your way — find something you're passionate about She previously described her love of geology, noting that it allows her to function "like a detective.

" “You look at different puzzle pieces, you know, (in) all kinds (of) different places,” Watkins said in a NASA video “And you try to put those puzzle pieces together to get a complete story, a complete story of what happened in a particular place.

Diverse representation remains a problem in the space program, but opportunities for women and people of color are growing Watkins' class of astronauts, selected by NASA in 2017, is one of the most diverse in the space agency's history, and she hopes to leave the door open for others.

"I see places where I wish there was more representation, but I really felt the impact of the representation that was there," Watkins said It was valuable "to see people who looked like me, who had backgrounds and experiences like me, in the roles I aspired to and contributing in the way I aspired to contribute.

" She counts astronaut Mae Jemison, the first black woman to travel in space, as a key figure, and she drew inspiration from her parents and family members as well as teachers and the mentors she met along the way.

“It will definitely be a priority for me,” she said, “to be able to reach out and connect with the community that I was hoping to do a good job of representing Watkins grew up in Lafayette, Colorado, and earned his undergraduate degree at Stanford University.

Initially, she studied Mechanical Engineering, hoping it would help him pursue his dreams of being an astronaut But it "just wasn't my passion," she said in a NASA broadcast from space.

“It just wasn't something that got me out of bed every morning But flipping through Stanford's course catalog, she discovered geology courses on finding habitable planets that piqued her interest.

“Especially the idea of ​​planetary geology, the idea of ​​being able to study rocks on the surface of another planet,” she said, “absolutely appealed to me and still does to this day At Stanford, Watkins became a standout rugby star.

As a sophomore, she scored the game-winning goal in Stanford's 2008 national title game As a result, her grandmother told CNN affiliate WESH that she initially thought Watkins was destined to be one of the best players in the game.

On reflection, Watkins said that immersing herself in the dynamics of a team sport as well as her studies prepared for the grueling demands of spaceflight “The international cooperation needed to do what we do here every day is exactly like that,” she said.

Watkins spent two years undergoing basic astronaut training and another two years preparing for his trip to the space station Aboard the SpaceX rocket, which carried her and three crewmates into orbit, for the first time, it was a pinch moment.

But months of dedicated practice have also made it seem routine "It's this kind of exciting combination of emotions, as you sit on the rocket preparing for launch,” Watkins told CNN.

“But really, the launch itself is just amazing And by the time the launch itself takes place, you're fully focused on the operational side of things.

Throughout their time on the space station, Watkins and his crewmates worked closely with Russian cosmonauts, a task of heightened geopolitical importance as the war in Ukraine strained relations between the United States and Russia Russia.

“We get to have dinner together, hang out with them, and we really become family with them,” watkins told cnn “We are all here to carry out our missions successfully and safely.

… We really have that common ground Watkins has been involved in hundreds of space station research projects, including a botanical survey focused on growing new crops in space.

With food becoming an increasingly important topic for astronauts, Watkins also rose to prominence during his stay for inventing a burger taco topped with macaroni and cheese – dubbed the “Wattyburger” Among the startling experiences in space, Watkins discovered that the microgravity environment extended to his dreams within weeks of his time on the station.

"They weren't about being in space, but they took place in space," she said “You know how dreams are – you kind of remember, 'Oh, yeah, we were definitely floating, so we had to be in space.

But since I've been back on Earth, I don't think I've dreamed of being in space So I guess my brain and my body figured it out.

To pass the time when research projects or routine maintenance weren't overwhelming her schedule, Watkins said she looked out the corner of the space station's windows, called the Cupola, to watch Earth go by “Certainly for me, as a scientist and as a geologist in particular, to be able to look out the window and see places that are of geological interest – even field sites that I had visited or researched before – to be able to To see them from this perspective, from a planetary perspective, was truly amazing.

On weekends, Watkins said the team used a projector to show movies Her favorite — and perhaps most relevant — was Matt Damon's 2015 film, "The Martian," she says.

Watkins Ph D

thesis at UCLA focused on the Martian terrain, analyzing puzzling landslides observed on the planet's surface and how water may have contributed to them “I think they did a great job (in the movie),” she said, “with the rocks in particular.

Watkins' unbridled love of geology extends to his ambitions with NASA's Astronaut Corps Asked about her dream mission, watkins told cnn that she wanted to travel to Mars and study some of the landmarks that she was only able to analyze through data collected by satellites and Mars rovers.

“Going to the areas that we have studied – and that I have studied in particular – and be able to get boots in the field and compare this type of field geology with data (collected remotely) … will be pretty amazing,” she said Such a feat is not beyond the realm of possibility for Watkins.

As a member of NASA's Artemis team, she is among a group of astronauts who could be selected to join upcoming crewed missions to the Moon and, perhaps, eventually Mars The Artemis program is still in its infancy, but NASA should soon select crew members for an upcoming trip around the moon.

Watkins did not lobby NASA for a spot on this or any other specific mission "It doesn't work like that," she noted.

But the Artemis program offers her and her colleagues an exciting future — a future that promises to be filled with people who better represent the mainstream “We're an incredible and diverse corps (of astronauts) right now,” Watkins said.

“And so, whatever the faces of the mission (Artemis II), we are all excited to truly be a part of it and contribute in ways that we can all contribute .