(WHDH) — New England native Jessica Meir is preparing for another monumental mission after she made history during the first all-female spacewalk.
Meir is getting the next crew ready for their journey to the International Space Station later this week for the SpaceX Dragon mission but, not before sitting down for an interview with 7NEWS.
“I’ll be on the launch pad with Crew 2, so I’m here now in quarantine with the crew at Kennedy Space Center and we’re getting the crew ready to launch,” she said.
The crew will spend time working at the space station — something Meir has done before. She landed back on Earth about a year ago after spending seven months there conducting research.
“I don’t think anyone forgets the first minute they come out of the hatch and you look down and see nothing but your boots hanging and the void of space and the beautiful earth spinning below, it’s something that changes you as a person,” she said.
Meir has been following the developments on Mars and said she is cheered on her colleagues as the Ingenuity helicopter took its first flight earlier in the week.
“We all tuned in to make sure we were catching those moments and we were so excited,” she said. “Just to think that we were watching video of this spacecraft on another planet.”
The Mainer said she enjoys sharing her passion with the people back home and even offered some advice to aspiring astronauts.
“I grew up in Maine and I was living right there in Boston when I found out I became an astronaut,” she said. “I like to encourage people, your five-year-old dream can come true, mine did. As long as you work and persevere and don’t be afraid to take risks and go outside your comfort zone, you can really accomplish anything.”
Meir will be with the astronauts on the launchpad as they are loaded in and prepared for liftoff for Friday’s mission.
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