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Nasa astronaut will be first Native American woman in space
Image source, NASA
Next month Nasa will send a new crew into space - and for the first time there will be a Native American woman aboard!
Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann, of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, will be mission commander which means she is responsible for all phases of flight.
Nasa said will go to the International Space Station on 29 September.
Nicole said she was very excited about the prospect, saying, "I think it's important that we communicate this to our community, so that other Native kids... realise that some of those barriers that used to be there are really starting to get broken down."
Image source, NASA
Nicole isn't the first native American to travel to space. That was John Herrington, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation, who went in 2002.
He carried the Nation's flag and a traditional flute on his 13-day voyage.
Nicole said she would take "a dreamcatcher that my mother gave me when I was very young" in her allocated 1.4kg luggage allowance.
According to the Indigenous Foundation, dreamcatchers symbolise unity and provide protection.
Image source, NASA
Nicole will be with three colleagues on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of the Crew-5 mission.
This expedition will be her first spaceflight since she became an astronaut in 2013.
She is one of eight members of the 21st Nasa astronaut class, which was made up for space station operations and potential future assignments to the Moon and Mars.
In 2020 she was also selected to be in a pool of astronauts eligible for Nasa's Artemis programme that will send humans to the Moon.