Meir << mihr >> , Jessica (1977-…), is a United States astronaut. In 2019, she participated in the first spacewalk in which all the participants were women, along with the U.S. astronaut Christina Koch . Meir was selected to be an astronaut by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2013. She arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in September 2019.
From 2000 to 2003, Meir worked for the aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin. During that time, she participated in parabolic reduced-gravity aircraft flights. Such flights are used to prepare people and equipment for operations in microgravity, the reduced gravity conditions experienced in space. In 2002, she served as a crew member in a NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission on the ocean floor off the coast of Florida. At NEEMO, Meir and her crewmates simulated future piloted space missions. She made four visits to Antarctica between 2004 and 2008, studying emperor penguins . In 2016, she participated in the European Space Agency (ESA) _C_ooperative _A_dventure for _V_aluing and _E_xercising Human Behaviour and Performance _S_kills (CAVES) mission. CAVES was a simulated space mission conducted in a cave system in Italy.
Jessica Ulrika Meir was born July 1, 1977, in Caribou, Maine . She earned a B.A. degree in biology from Brown University in 1999, graduating magna cum laude (with great honor). In 2000, she earned an M.S. degree in space science from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, graduating cum laude (with honor). In 2009, she earned a Ph.D. degree in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography , a part of the University of California.
