(Ethete, WY) – Nicole Mann, the first female Native American NASA astronaut, stopped by Wyoming Indian Schools today, September 10, where she spoke to students and inspired the next generation of Indigenous astronauts, engineers and dreamers.
Mann, who is registered with the Wailacki (some spellings have the “c,” others do not) of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, spoke to middle and high schoolers this afternoon at Wyoming Indian High School before heading over to the elementary school to present to the younger kiddos. Mann was then honored with a community dinner and powwow back at the high school following the assemblies.
County 10 was able to swing by the middle/high school assembly, where Mann, a Colonel in the Marine Corps who served as a combat fighter pilot/test pilot and deployed twice aboard aircraft carriers in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, shared stories about what life is like in space, as well as some of the challenges astronauts face on a daily basis.
As commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance, Mann and her international crew of four spent 157 days in orbit, where she conducted two spacewalks totaling just over 14 hours (the whole crew conducted five total spacewalks during their time at the International Space Station).
Mann regaled the students with first person accounts of operating the ship’s robotic arm during some of these the spacewalks, and also shared a video that NASA put together of some of the mission highlights.
While that highlight video is not readily available, you can check out the following videos of the mission’s launch and landing at the ISS below.
Mann also had general life advice for students, and went on to tell them that no matter what profession they choose, “opportunities exist.”
“They’re not always just sitting there, waiting for you. It takes work,” Mann stated before sharing that she took advantage of opportunity when she was selected by NASA in 2013 after years of hard work (Mann holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering).
“One thing that all astronauts that I’ve met have in common, is that they absolutely loved doing what they did before becoming an astronaut; they were passionate about what they did,” Mann told the crowd before stressing the importance for students to have that same passion in whatever path they choose.
Mann then took questions from the students, which ranged from silly (“Is the Earth flat?” “Did you see any aliens?” “How did you go to the bathroom?”) to more serious, like “What were you most afraid of?”
Mann was game and answered all of the questions, (even the silly ones: “not flat…” “didn’t see any aliens but looked out for them…” “a combination of good aim and suction tubes…”) and shared that she was the most afraid of failing the projects/missions her team was faced with, but reassured students that failure is a part of life and something that you just have to overcome.
Before heading over to the elementary school assembly and then later the community dinner/powwow, Mann was gifted a piece of student art (pictured in the featured image above), and students in the high school’s NASA HUNCH program gave out autographed pictures of Mann to close out the ceremony.
Mann will also be sticking around Wyoming Indian Schools tomorrow as well, where she will spend time in the NASA HUNCH classes (which stands for NASA High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware) with WIHS teacher Scott Krassin.
To read more about WIHS student contributions to the NASA program through HUNCH, click here.