The ultimate Renaissance woman, Jessica U. Meir holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Brown University, a Master of Science in Space Studies from the International Space University, and a Doctorate in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (UCSD). Oh, and she’s also a NASA astronaut.
Currently working onboard the International Space Station on her first spaceflight as part of Expedition 61 and 62, she has also participated in research flights on NASA’s reduced gravity aircraft and served as an aquanaut in an underwater habitat for NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO).
Amongst her many (many!) achievements, was a spacewalk alongside her colleague Christina Koch – an achievement she’d realized last year. The spacewalk lasted for seven hours and 17 minutes in total, and was the first all-female spacewalk in history.
“It was simply an incredible experience and one that I will never forget,” she later relayed in an interview with wbur. “For me, coming up here, it just was the most amazing experience of my life, coming to the International Space Station, something that I had dreamed about since I was a kid… And let me tell you, I thought it would be amazing. I knew it would be amazing. It is even far, far, far more incredible and impressive than I ever imagined. And that’s saying a lot.”
According to Meir, “going for a spacewalk was even taking it a step further. When you come out of that hatch, and you look down and all you see are your boots and the earth below you in all of its beauty, it is really awe-inspiring and humbling experience, and it was just something that I really, really never forget.”
Due to return to Earth in the spring of 2020, you can follow her adventures in space on Instagram. How cool is that?
