Where there's smoke, there is usually fire. With NASA's recent announcement stating that astronaut Jeanette Epps would no longer be making the Expedition 56/67 mission, some raised questions.
Epps was set to become the first long-term black International Space Station (ISS) crew member this year. NASA officials have yet to disclose why she will be part of the launch scheduled for June.
“A number of factors are considered when making flight assignments; these decisions are personnel matters for which NASA doesn’t provide information,” Brandi Dean, a spokesperson for NASA, told The Verge.
Now, officials have reported that Epps would return to Johnson Space Center in Houston to return to work in the Astronaut Office.
In past years, African American astronauts visited the ISS but Epps will be the first to stay. She had to go through the ringer to make history.
Almost 10 years ago, in 2009, Epps had to compete against more than 3,500 applicants to be one of the 14 to be part of the 2018 mission. The New York native has a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering. Her journey to this point started while in graduate school when she was a NASA Fellow.
Not only is she an astronaut but she is a patent holder who has received a provisional patent and a U.S. patent for her research at the Ford Motor Company, according to NASA. She also spent seven years at the CIA as a technical officer before joining the agency.
