(CNN)NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins will become the first Black woman on the International Space Station crew.

She is set to launch into space in April 2022 on the SpaceX Crew-4 mission, according to NASA.

Watkins was selected as an astronaut candidate in 2017 and has been preparing for her first space mission since then.


The other three crew members on the mission include NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines, as well as the European Space Agency's Samantha Cristoforetti.

This is the fourth crew rotation flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, the space agency said.

The team will blast into space from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The astronauts will spend six months in the ISS microgravity laboratory conducting scientific research, NASA said.

Watkins attended Stanford University in California and earned her bachelor's degree in geological and environmental sciences, then went on to earn a doctorate in geology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

The astronaut has a long history with NASA, having begun her career there as an intern, and she previously held roles at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

She was a member of the science team for the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, while working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

"Geology provided a means for me to study the surface of another planet and particularly look at Mars, which was my passion," Watkins said in a NASA video.

A number of her NASA colleagues congratulated Watkins on her new role and upcoming trip to space.

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim said, "More Turtles in space! Congrats to my friend and teammate, Jessica Watkins. She's going to be an amazing crewmate for @SpaceX Crew-4."

Amazing


When we are here thinking of how to fix bad roads, these ones don finish dey go space.

Who do us?

Alphafeezay:
Amazing


When we are here thinking of how to fix bad roads, these ones don finish dey go space.

Who do us?

Our ancestors were lazy, and to make matters worse , they refused developing themselves even when oil was discovered. So in essence, you and I are victims of a problem that we were born into

The future is female.

I can't wait for the future to come. I can't wait for that time that I will just relax, stay at home and wait for my wife to bring money.

I can't wait for the day I will lash a girl and still expect to be paid.

Now as Xmas is approaching fast, my BP is getting high because of billings from all corner. I can't wait for the day I will be doing the billing myself.

THE FUTURE IS TAKING TOO LONG I'M ALREADY GETTING TIRED.

Alphafeezay:
Amazing


When we are here thinking of how to fix bad roads, these ones don finish dey go space.

Who do us?

Lol!

Congrats to her.

Everyone is doing their bit.
The ones in charge of the road construction will always play their roles, while her department plays theirs.

Even if Nigeria begins to send people to the space today, there will still be other problems to solve. Same for the US or China or Russia or Iran.

But like you pointed out, we need to get our priorities right and use our resources to help the masses.