Stephanie D. Wilson’s skills are out of this world, literally.
In 2006, Wilson became just the second black woman to explore space on a NASA mission. Wilson has been part of three spaceflights and has spent a stunning 42 days, 23 hours, 46 minutes in the cosmos.
With a Bachelor of Science in engineering from Harvard and a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas, Wilson was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1996. She initially wanted to be an engineer, but craved a career that allowed her to travel.
“I thought, ‘Hey, it’d be neat to have a job where you sleep all day and stay up all night–as astronomers do–and travel around the world,’” she said during an interview with the Johnson Space Center.
While her first voyage was a significant milestone, she might consider her second the most memorable. During a 15-day mission on the Space Shuttle Discovery, she had what she later describe as “very much an Apollo 13 moment.” A solar panel on the International Space Station broke and Wilson was forced to make an impromptu spacewalk to secure the necessary repairs.
Wilson continued to break down barriers while exploring the galaxy. On her third and final flight, she joined Naoko Yamazaki, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger and Tracy Caldwell Dyson. This would mark the first time four women flew into space together. Instead of being a big deal, Wilson thinks women in space should be business as usual.
“It was nice, and we all knew each other from mission training,’’ she says. “But much of our training and mission assignments have become gender-neutral, as it should be.’’
Wilson was recently honored at the New York premiere of the hit film “Hidden Figures” that chronicles NASA’s black female pioneers.
