Astronaut set to become first Black woman on ISS crew

Jessica Watkins will become the first Black woman on the International Space Station crew.

She's expected to launch into space in April 2022 on the SpaceX Crew-4 mission.

The crew will spend six months in the International Space Station conducting scientific research.

Watkins has been preparing for her first space mission since being selected as an astronaut candidate in 2017. She'll be alongside NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines and astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency.

Watkins is a geologist who earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a doctorate from UCLA.