Colorado Astronauts Selected for Lunar Mission
23 Apr 2021
The last time NASA successfully sent astronauts to the moon was December 1972, with Apollo 17. Nearly 40 years later, they’ve selected astronauts for another lunar mission, and that team includes two Coloradans—Jessica Watkins of Lafayette, and Matthew Dominick of Wheat Ridge. Watkins has a doctorate in geology and collaborated on the Mars Curiosity rover. Dominick has a master’s in systems engineering and is a U.S. Navy test pilot.
They’re on a team of 18 astronauts working on program “Artemis,” thus dubbed because Artemis was Apollo’s sister in Greek mythology. NASA plans on landing the first woman on the moon with this expedition and conducting research on a larger lunar surface area than ever before studied.
