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Who is Nicole Mann? First Native American woman in space conducts seven-hour long spacewalk

Nicole Aunapu Mann, is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, she was selected by NASA in June 2013

WASHINGTON, DC: Nicole A Mann, a NASA astronaut and the first Native American woman in space, did a spacewalk on Friday, January 20. Mann and Japan's Koichi Wakata ventured out on a spacewalk to prep the International Space Station for more solar panels. This was the first spacewalk for both of them and they were assigned the duty of assembling the mounting brackets in preparation for the station’s next set of solar arrays. It was in October 2022 when Mann rocketed into the orbit with SpaceX, becoming the first Native American woman in space. 

Mann, 45, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Wakata were scheduled to begin their spacewalk about 8.15 am EST. The spacewalk lasted 7 hours and 21 minutes before concluding at 3.35 pm EST. NASA has tweeted several videos on Friday, providing updates of their spacewalk. 

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Who is Nicole Mann?

Nicole Aunapu Mann, is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. She was selected by NASA in June 2013 and completed her astronaut candidate training in July 2015. On October 5, 2022, she was launched to the International Space Station as the mission commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

According to NASA, Born in Petaluma, California, Mann obtained her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1999 and in 2001, earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a specialty in Fluid Mechanics from Stanford University. Speaking of her personal life, Mann is married to Travis and they have a son together. The family lives in Houston, Texas.

Mann, who is a Colonel in the US Marine Corps, served as a test pilot in the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet. She was also deployed for 47 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mann has been awarded with two Air Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals and various unit commendations. She was even inducted into the Academic All-American Hall of Fame.

NASA's official Twitter handle uploaded several videos providing an update of the spacewalk. "LIVE NOW: Watch @NASA_Astronauts Nicole Mann and @JAXA_en astronaut Koichi Wakata as they step outside the @Space_Station for their first spacewalk. They will be assembling the mounting brackets in preparation for the station’s next set of solar arrays," their first tweet read.

"Spacewalk update: @NASA_Astronauts Nicole Mann and @JAXA_en Koichi Wakata set their spacesuits to battery power at 8:14am ET, marking the official start of today's spacewalk. The spacewalk is expected to last up to seven hours," read another tweet.

NASA's International Space Station account also posted an update and wrote, "A view of a sunrise over the South Pacific ocean is seen outside the space station as spacewalkers Mann and Wakata begin to move to their worksite."