Jessica Meir facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jessica Meir
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Born |
Jessica Ulrika Meir
July 1, 1977 Caribou, Maine, U.S.
|
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
|
Time in space
|
204d 15h 19m |
| Selection | NASA Group 21 (2013) |
|
Total EVAs
|
3 |
|
Total EVA time
|
21h 44m |
| Missions | Soyuz MS-15 (Expedition 61/62) |
|
Mission insignia
|
  |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields |
|
| Institutions |
|
| Thesis | Blood Oxygen Transport and Depletion: The Key of Consummate Divers (2009) |
| Doctoral advisor | Paul Ponganis |
| Other academic advisors | Bill Milsom (postdoc) Gerald Kooyman |
Jessica Ulrika Meir (born July 1, 1977) is an American NASA astronaut. She is also a marine biologist and a physiologist. Before becoming an astronaut, she studied how animals survive in extreme places. For example, she studied emperor penguins in Antarctica. She also researched bar-headed geese that fly over the Himalayas.
In 2013, NASA chose Jessica Meir to be an astronaut. She went to the ISS in September 2019. She worked there as a flight engineer for Expedition 61 and 62. On October 18, 2019, she and Christina Koch made history. They were the first two women to do an all-female spacewalk. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in 2020.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Jessica Meir was born in Caribou, Maine. Her mother was a nurse from Sweden. Her father was a doctor from Iraq. He moved to Israel as a child. He later met Jessica's mother in Sweden. They moved to Maine, where Jessica was born. She identifies as culturally Jewish. She went to synagogue and had a bat mitzvah.
Jessica was inspired to go to space by watching Space Shuttle missions. She loved nature and adventure. She says the bright stars in Maine also made her dream of space. When she was 13, she went to a youth space camp.
She studied biology at Brown University. She also spent a semester studying in Sweden. In her final year, she did an experiment on a NASA reduced gravity aircraft. This plane is sometimes called the "vomit comet." She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in 1999. In 2000, she got a Master of Space Studies from the International Space University in France.
Studying Animals in Extreme Places
Jessica Meir earned her Ph.D. in marine biology in 2009. She studied how emperor penguins and northern elephant seals dive. She went to Antarctica to study penguins. She even scuba dived under the ice with them. She also studied elephant seals in the Pacific Ocean.
Later, she researched bar-headed geese. She studied how they can fly over the Himalayas where there is very little oxygen. She worked as a professor at Harvard Medical School before joining NASA.
NASA Career
From 2000 to 2003, Jessica Meir worked for Lockheed Martin. She helped with science experiments for astronauts. These experiments studied how the human body changes in space. She trained astronauts and supported them from Mission Control.
In September 2002, she became an aquanaut. She lived in an undersea research laboratory called Aquarius. This mission, called NEEMO 4, was like a space training mission underwater. She and her team spent five days living and working underwater. This helped them prepare for extreme environments like space.
In 2013, NASA chose Jessica Meir for NASA Astronaut Group 21. She finished her astronaut training in 2015. In 2016, she trained in a cave system in Italy. This was part of the ESA CAVES mission. It helped astronauts practice working in space-like environments.
As an astronaut, she also worked as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM). This means she was the main person who talked to astronauts in space from Earth.
Space Mission: Expedition 61/62
In April 2019, NASA announced that Jessica Meir would go to the ISS. She launched on September 25, 2019, aboard the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft. She flew with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and Emirati astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri.
.jpg)
The spacecraft reached the ISS just six hours after launch. This mission was special because Hazza Al Mansouri became the first person from the United Arab Emirates to fly in space. Jessica Meir served as a flight engineer for Expedition 61 and 62.
.jpg)
On October 18, 2019, Jessica Meir and Christina Koch made history. They performed the first all-female spacewalk. They replaced a broken power unit on the space station. The spacewalk lasted over seven hours. During the spacewalk, US president Donald Trump called them. He congratulated them on this historic event.
Jessica Meir stayed on the ISS for 205 days. She conducted many science experiments. She also helped with public outreach. She talked to students from Maine and appeared on an internet show.
.jpg)
On April 17, 2020, Jessica Meir, Oleg Skripochka, and Andrew Morgan returned to Earth. Their Soyuz capsule landed safely in Kazakhstan.
Personal Life
Jessica Meir enjoys many hobbies. She played the flute, piccolo, and saxophone when she was younger. She likes reading classic books. She also enjoys cycling, hiking, running, skiing, and scuba diving. She has a private pilot's license.
She speaks English, Russian, and Swedish. Because her mother was born in Sweden, Jessica also has Swedish citizenship. This makes her the first Swedish woman to hold citizenship in space. She is the second Swedish citizen overall, after Christer Fuglesang.
Astronauts can bring personal items to the ISS. Jessica brought an Israeli flag and socks with Stars of David and menorahs. Most of her father's family lives in Israel. She has visited Israel twice. She also took pictures of Israel from space.
In 2023, Jessica Meir announced that she had a baby girl.
Awards
Jessica Meir has received many awards, including:
- Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) Scholar Award (2008)
- Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Fellowship (2006)
- Lockheed Martin Space Operations (LMSO) Special Recognition Award (2002)
- NASA JSC Space and Life Sciences Directorate Special Professional Achievement Award (2002)
- Lockheed Martin Technology Services "Lightning Award" (2002)
- Honorary Doctor of Technology from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden (2020)
- Sir Charles Sherrington Prize Lecture & Medal (2021), University of Oxford
- President's Lecture & Medal (2021), The Physiological Society of the United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
