NASA Astronaut Jessica Watkins: Propelled to Space by Science

NASA Astronaut and Caltech postdoc alumna Jessica Watkins shares her journey to the ISS and beyond.

On April 27, 2022, planetary geologist Jessica Watkins made history as she launched into space and began a voyage to become the first Black woman on the International Space Station. Now, after 170 days on the ISS and nearly a year after her journey began, Watkins returns to Los Angeles and to Caltech — where she completed her postdoc in 2017 — to share her story. Join her as she recounts the adventures that took her from NASA intern at Ames and JPL, to PhD program at UCLA, and to Caltech, where she worked on the Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity rover mission and the NEOWISE project. This event will highlight key milestones from Watkins' career trajectory and her thoughts on what makes space worth exploring.

The Caltech campus event is free and open to all members of the Caltech community, CMA members, Friends of Beckman supporters, and the public. (Friends of Beckman Auditorium can get two tickets to this event for the Reserved Seating Section.They can call the Friends Service Desk at (626) 395-6400 or email fob@caltech.edu.)

Advanced registration online is recommended, but the doors will open to unregistered guests at 5:15 p.m. For more information, contact Michael Eastwood michael.l.eastwood@jpl.nasa.govor Shayna Chabner schabner@caltech.edu.

Membership in CMA helps bring great speakers and events to Caltech campus and JPL and is open to all active and retired employees of Caltech, and to contract employees as affiliate members. See https://cma.caltech.edu​ for more information about the organization.