At the last minute, Epps was removed from that assignment with no explanation.
Epps has a doctorate in aerospace engineering and served seven years as a technical intelligence officer at the CIA before joining the astronaut corps in 2009. NASA said in 2017 that Epps wouid make history by joining the crew of Expedition 56. During ISS expeditions, astronauts become residents of the space station and spend months conducting experiments and caring for the 20-year-old orbiting laboratory.
But even as more than a dozen Black Americans have traveled to space on NASA’s Space Shuttle, some of whom helped build the ISS, none of them served as expedition crew members.
“I think I was able to develop really good working relationships with everyone there,” she said, referring to her training at Russian space facilities.
When asked if she attributed the decision to sexism or racism, Epps replied: “There’s no time to really be concerned about sexism and racism and things like that because we have to perform. And if it comes into play, then you’re hindering the mission…Whether or not it’s a factor, I can’t specifically speculate on what people are thinking.”
A NASA spokesperson at Johnson Space Center in Houston did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Epps could not be reached for comment.
The mission Epps is now assigned to, Starliner-1, will be the first fully operational flight of Boeing’s new spacecraft, which the company is developing for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
After the uncrewed test flight is successfully completed, NASA astronauts Michael Fincke, Nicole Mann, and Chris Ferguson, a former NASA astronaut who now works for Boeing, will pilot Starliner on its first-ever crewed flight before the vehicle is certified as “operational.” That will pave the way for Epps’ mission.