From space to Caltech, this astronaut’s message comes in loud, clear and inspiring

Jessica Andrea Watkins – a former postdoctoral fellow at Caltech, and one of only 10 people in space today – beams in from 261 miles above Earth. The message for Black women interested in STEM and aerospace careers: "Welcome, come aboard."

CALTECH — When astronaut Jessica Andrea Watkins appears on screen in front of the rapt audience of masked students, faculty and staff seated in Caltech’s Ramo Auditorium, there is a disconcerting quality to the image. Is it the set of her shoulders? The way her black polo seems to both fit and not fit? The way her body seems to subtly bob?

Then it hits you, something is missing: gravity. The appearance that she is standing upright is purely for the benefit of the audience. Where she is, there is no up or down. There is only falling, at a rate of 17,500 miles per hour; fast enough to miss the earth and keep on falling.

This is the life that Watkins volunteered to live, aboard the International Space Station, 261 miles in the sky.

Watkins, a former postdoctoral fellow at Caltech — currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) — joined students, faculty and staff via a NASA downlink feed for a Q&A on Tuesday morning, Aug. 9. The Q&A also streamed to the public on NASA TV. The event was a celebration for the achievements of one of Caltech’s own. A homecoming, if only by satellite.

A glance at Watkins’ academic journey leaves little doubt as to her astronomical ambitions. She received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, in geological and environmental sciences, participating in an internship at NASA’s Ames Research Center, studying the soil of Mars.

Watkins then pursued a Ph.D in geology from UCLA, where she studied landslides on the Red Planet. Watkins went on to a postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech, in Pasadena, continuing her research of Martian geology as part of the Curiosity rover team. To list all of her internships and distinguished positions would take up a full page.

At some point she also found the time to represent the U.S. at the rugby sevens World Cup.

It was while working at Caltech that Watkins was selected to be a part of NASA’s space program, beginning the two-year training to prepare for her mission. In April, 2022, she found herself strapped to the top of a Falcon 9 rocket, blasting off into space. Watkins has also been selected to be a part of NASA’s Artemis 1 program, the mission to return humans to the surface of the moon for the first time since 1972.

Watkins is an inspiring figure for many accomplishments. She is notable as one of less than 300 people to have ever been to the ISS. She is eminent for being one of only 10 people in space today. And Watkins is momentously historic for being the first Black woman to remain in space for an extended mission aboard the ISS during the station’s 22 years housing long-term residents.

Watkins had a message for other Black women looking to enter into STEM and aerospace: “Welcome, come aboard. We need you. We want you.”

One theme stood out in Watkins Q&A, and the impressions she left on attendees: manifoldness. When asked by a Caltech student what her advice is to aspiring astronauts, Watkins responded: “Find something you’re interested in.” She pointed out that the commonality between all of her crew mates is that none of them specialize in the same topic.

“So there is no one single path that will get you here,” she advised. “Find something that you enjoy, that gets you out of bed in the morning, and pursue that.”

Watkins expressed how Caltech prepared her for a space mission by exposing her to interdisciplinary research teams, what she described as a “confluence of worlds, working together with scientists and engineers.”

It may be this eclectic focus that allows Watkins to inspire a broad range of people. Her message is that following your passion is the most important road you can take.

With a contagious smile that reaches from her eyes to her chin and a steady and encouraging demeanor, Watkins can reach out and make an emotional connection in a 20 minute satellite call.

Valeria Kachmar, 30, a first-year graduate student at Caltech’s division of geological and planetary sciences, felt that connection.

“At one point, I got actually very emotional,” she recalled, blinking back tears at the memory. “Her answers were so meaningful,” Kachmar said. “She’s just not different from me, or from any other person who is a graduate student, a college student, and who wants to be up in space.”

Watkins delivered that emotional connection to Kachmar as an electrifying enthusiasm. “I’m just so inspired that I want to go and start working on my problem,” Kachmar, who is studying the moon, explained. “I just want to go back and work,” Kachmar said with a palpable jolt of enthusiasm and a laugh.

Watkins was introduced by her graduate school mentor, Dr. Bethany Ehlmann, professor of Planetary Science at Caltech, associate director of the Keck Institute for Space Studies and president of the Planetary Society. Watkins assisted Dr. Ehlmann at Caltech with her research of landslides on Mars as a graduate student and worked with Dr. Ehlmann on the Curiosity rover mission as a postdoctoral fellow. During that time, Dr. Ehlmann got to know Watkins closely.

Dr. Ehlmann beams with joy when discussing her former mentee. “She followed her dreams and she is achieving them, reaching them, and it’s so exciting! I can’t wait to see what happens next,” She expressed.

It doesn’t surprise Dr. Ehlmann that Watkins attained her dreams. “Jessica has that outstanding package of characteristics where she’s an incisive scientist,” Dr. Ehlmann observed. “But Jessica also has many of the other factors: she is calm, she is able to arbitrate between people with differing points of opinion.”

The theme of manifoldness that Watkins imparted resonated with Dr. Ehlmann.

“I hope that the impact of this event is really for the students and younger people of the community,” Dr. Ehlmann explained, “realizing that there are many paths to space. Many paths to exploration. Many paths to following your dreams.”

In her advice to Black women looking to enter STEM and aerospace, Watkins imparted a message that captured a throughline in both her experience and her advice: “diversity is what makes us great.”

In the auditorium, the satellite feed cuts out. The attendees soon trickle into the scorching Pasadena sun, some walking back to their air-conditioned labs, others hopping into hot cars. Meanwhile, Jessica Watkins and nine other travelers continue on their orbit, floating in a climate-controlled tin can, out across the Atlantic, toward one of the 16 sunsets they’ll see today.