(Andrey Shelepin/GCTC via NASA)Įpps had been assigned to launch on Soyuz MS-09 with cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos and German astronaut Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (ESA). ![]() Jeanette Epps, seen with her former crewmates Sergey Prokopyev (at center) and Alexander Gerst in December 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. I am pretty sure your time will come pretty, pretty soon," said Kanai, addressing Epps at his pre-launch press conference. "We together went through all trainings and examinations and all of the requirements. 17, where he is currently an Expedition 54 flight engineer. Most recently, Epps was assigned as backup to Norishige Kanai, an astronaut with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), who lifted off to the space station on Dec. She also worked as a support crew member for two station expeditions and as a spacecraft communicator, or capcom, in mission control. Prior to her space station assignment, Epps served on a panel focused on improving crew efficiency on the outpost. ![]() "After almost a decade of training in robotics and the Russian language - so that she can communicate with the cosmonauts on her mission – she will become the first African American woman to live and work long-term at the International Space Station." "Next year, astronaut Jeanette Epps will add her name to an exclusive list of women who have traveled to space," Woman's Day reported at the time. Woman's Day featured Epps on the cover of its 80th birthday issue in September 2017. The news of Epps' flight assignment quickly spread online, appearing on numerous websites and in news publications worldwide. Six African-American astronauts - Robert Curbeam, Alvin Drew, Joan Higginbotham, Leland Melvin, Robert Satcher and Stephanie Wilson - previously visited the station on space shuttle missions to assemble and supply the orbiting laboratory, but Epps would have been the first to serve on the space station's resident crew. Once on the space station, Epps would serve as a flight engineer on both the Expedition 56 and Expedition 57 crews. In January 2017, the space agency announced that Epps would become the first African American station crew member, launching with two other crewmates on Russia's Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft. ![]() (NASA)Įpps, 47, was chosen by NASA to train as an astronaut in 2009. Jeanette Epps' July 2017 NASA portrait as a flight engineer on the Expedition 56 and Expedition 57 space station crews.
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