For Mann, this includes her wedding ring and family photos as well as a special reminder of her heritage.

Quite the spectrum.Īstronauts are typically told they can bring a limited number of personal items with them on their journey. Once they arrive, the team plans to conduct more than 200 experiments, including spacewalks, growing tomatoes and 3D-printing human tissue. She’s also the first Russian to fly onboard an American spacecraft since the country invaded Ukraine in February.Īll four are traveling to the ISS for a six-month mission. While Kikina, on the other hand, is the sole female cosmonaut on active duty for the Russian space agency Roscosmos. In 2000, Wakata flew on STS-92, and became the first Japanese astronaut to participate in the assembly of the ISS. The team is no stranger to historic firsts. Three crew members will accompany Mann on the mission, Josh Cassada, Anna Kikina and Koichi Wakata. The Crew-5 mission aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. 'Anytime we are able to do something that is a first, or wasn't done in the past, it's so important they have these opportunities.'

' will inspire young Native American children to follow their dreams and realize that some of those barriers that are there or used to be there are being broken down,' Mann told the BBC. Mann's milestone moment comes 20 years after John Harrington became the first Native American man in space in 2002. Before she became an astronaut, she spent several years as a pilot in the Marine Corps. Mann is a member of the Wailacki tribe of the Round Valley Indian Tribes.

Heading the expedition as mission commander is Nicole Mann-the first Native American woman to go to space. SpaceX launched a crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday.

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