Jeanette Epps facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jeanette Epps
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Official portrait, December 2023
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Jeanette Jo Epps
November 3, 1970 Syracuse, New York, U.S.
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| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
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Time in space
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235 days, 3 hours and 35 minutes |
| Selection | NASA Group 20 (2009) |
| Missions | SpaceX Crew-8 (Expedition 70/71/72) |
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Mission insignia
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Aerospace engineering |
| Thesis | In-Flight Tracking of Helicopter Rotor Blades with Tabs Using Shape Memory Alloy Actuators. (2000) |
| Doctoral advisor | Inderjit Chopra |
Jeanette Jo Epps (born November 3, 1970) is an American aerospace engineer and a former NASA astronaut. She earned her master's and doctorate degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland. There, she was part of a research group that studied how helicopters fly. She was also a NASA GSRP Fellow, which means she received a special scholarship from NASA to help with her studies.
In 2009, Jeanette Epps was chosen to be part of the 20th group of NASA astronauts. She finished her training in 2011. She worked with the team that manages the ISS and took part in special missions that prepared astronauts for space. These missions included NEEMO 18 and CAVES 19. She was the second woman and the first African-American woman to participate in the CAVES program. She was part of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission, spending 235 days on the ISS from March 4, 2024, to October 25, 2024.
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Jeanette Epps' Early Life and Education
Jeanette Epps was born in Syracuse, New York. She was one of seven children born to Henry and Luberta Epps. Her parents moved to Syracuse from Mississippi as part of the Great Migration, when many African Americans moved from the Southern U.S. to the North.
Jeanette and her twin sister, Janet, were very good at math and science. Jeanette graduated from Corcoran High School in Syracuse. She earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Le Moyne College. Later, she received her master's and doctorate degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland.
Early Career and Research
While studying for her advanced degrees at the University of Maryland, Jeanette Epps received a special fellowship from NASA. This allowed her to do important research and publish many scientific papers. Her research focused on materials engineering. This included testing strong materials for aircraft and studying how special alloys (metal mixtures) could be used to control helicopter blades during flight.
After finishing her studies, Epps worked as a researcher at Ford Motor Company. She then became a Technical Intelligence Officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). At Ford, she helped develop new ways to reduce vibrations in car parts and even received a patent for detecting car collisions. She worked at the CIA for seven years, including trips to Iraq. Before becoming an astronaut, her job at the CIA was to gather and understand technical information.
Jeanette Epps' NASA Career
In June 2009, Jeanette Epps was chosen to train as an astronaut for NASA. She completed her training in 2011. Her training was very thorough and included learning Russian, practicing spacewalks (called EVAs), and learning about robotics. She also studied geology and flew in T-38 jets. She even attended the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), which teaches survival and leadership skills in the outdoors.
Epps also spent nine days living in an underwater laboratory called Aquarius Reef Base. This was part of the NEEMO 18 mission, which helps astronauts prepare for space by simulating extreme environments. She also took part in geological studies in Hawaii.
Jeanette Epps worked with a group that looked at how astronauts could work more efficiently on the ISS. For this work, she received the Johnson Space Center Director's Innovation Group Achievement Award in 2013. She also served as a CAPCOM for Mission Control, which means she was the main person who talked to astronauts in space from Earth. She also trained for winter and water survival in Star City, Russia.
ISS Missions and Training
On January 4, 2017, NASA announced that Epps would be a flight engineer on the International Space Station (ISS) in mid-2018 for Expeditions 56 and 57. However, on January 16, 2018, NASA announced that she had been replaced by another astronaut. NASA stated that these were "personnel matters" and did not give more details.
In 2019, Epps completed the ESA CAVES training program. This program simulates exploring unknown places like the Moon and Mars by having astronauts explore caves. Jeanette Epps was the second woman and the first Black woman to take part in CAVES.
Epps also gives talks to groups, including at the University of Maryland. She is a member of the Society for Science & the Public and the AIAA. She was also a special guest at the 77th World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin, Ireland.
Boeing Starliner-1 Mission
On August 25, 2020, NASA announced that Epps would join Starliner-1. This was planned to be the first regular mission of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the ISS. This mission was delayed from its original launch date in the summer of 2021. If it had launched as planned, Epps would have been the first Black woman to be part of an ISS crew. However, Jessica Watkins achieved this milestone in 2022. While African-American astronauts had visited the ISS on Space Shuttle missions, none had stayed for a long time as a crew member until Victor Glover in November 2020.
Because the Starliner-1 mission kept getting delayed, Epps also began training on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
SpaceX Crew-8 Mission
In August 2023, NASA announced that Jeanette Epps would fly as a mission specialist on SpaceX Crew-8. This was a six-month mission to the ISS that launched on March 4, 2024, aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour. This mission made her the second African-American woman to be part of a long-duration mission on the ISS.
The mission spent extra time in space because of a month-long delay in launching SpaceX Crew-9. Then, the crew spent a few extra weeks removing seats and other equipment in Endeavour. This was needed for the astronauts of the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. Bad weather in the landing zones caused even more delays. Finally, Epps and her crewmates landed safely off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, on October 25, 2024. The mission lasted 235 days in low-Earth orbit, setting a new record for the longest time an American crewed spacecraft had spent in space on a single mission.
Retirement from NASA
In June 2025, NASA announced that Jeanette Epps had retired after working for 16 years with the agency.
Awards and Honors
- 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999: NASA GSRP Fellowship (a special scholarship)
- 2003, 2004, 2008: Exceptional Performance Award
- 2012: Academy of Distinguished Alumni, University of Maryland
- 2013: Johnson Space Center Director's Innovation Group Achievement Award
- 2014: Glenn L. Martin Medal, A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland
- 2018: Honorary Member, Alpha Kappa Alpha
Honorary Doctorates
- 2016: Doctorate of Humane Letters, Le Moyne College, New York
See also
In Spanish: Jeanette J. Epps para niños
- List of astronauts by name
- List of astronauts by year of selection
- List of African-American astronauts
- List of female astronauts
