The new millennium has been an era of history-making events, and astronaut Jeannette Epps is about to create another one. NASA has recently announced that Epps, from Syracuse, New York, will be the first African-American to become a crew member on the International Space Station in 2018. She will join fellow astronaut Andrew Feustel on board as a flight engineer on Expedition.

Epps comes highly qualified, with a lot of unique contributions. She speaks fluent Russian and was selected as one out of only nine of 3,500 applicants to enter NASA’s 20th astronaut class in 2009.

She was a NASA Fellow in graduate school, obtaining her doctorate and receiving a provisional patent and a U.

S. patent while working for Ford Motor Company. Additionally, she worked for the CIA as a Technical Intelligence Officer. Needless to say her resme is pretty impressive.

Many dream of becoming astronauts, but it’s an extremely difficult career requiring intensive training and a strict screening process. Being selected to work on the ISS is high praise for any astronaut, but becoming the first African-American to do so is definitely worth the acclaim!