Jessica Meir
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Jessica Ulrika Meir ( IPA: ; ; born ) is an American
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. She was previously an assistant professor of anesthesia at
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
,
Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...
,
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, following
postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...
in
comparative physiology Comparative physiology is a subdiscipline of physiology that studies and exploits the diversity of functional characteristics of various kinds of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary physiology and environmental physiology. Many ...
at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
. She has studied the diving physiology and behavior of
emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...
s in
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
, and the physiology of bar-headed geese, which are able to migrate over the
Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
. In September 2002, Meir served as an
aquanaut An aquanaut is any person who remains underwater, breathing at the ambient pressure for long enough for the concentration of the inert components of the breathing gas dissolved in the body tissues to reach equilibrium, in a state known as sat ...
on the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 4 ( NEEMO 4) crew. In 2013, she was selected by NASA to Astronaut Group 21. In 2016, Meir participated in ESA CAVES, a training course in which international astronauts train in a space-analogue cave environment. Meir launched on September 25, 2019, to the ISS onboard Soyuz MS-15, where she served as a flight Engineer during
Expedition 61 Expedition 61 was the 61st Expedition to the International Space Station, which began on 3 October 2019 with the undocking of the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft. The Expedition was commanded by European Space Agency, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, who be ...
and 62. On October 18, 2019, Meir and Christina Koch were the first women to participate in an all-female
spacewalk Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable atmosphere of Earth, Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environme ...
. Meir was included in ''Time'' magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.


Early life and career

Meir was born in
Caribou, Maine Caribou is the second largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. Its population was 7,396 at the 2020 census. The city is a service center for the agricultural and tourism industries, and the location of a National Weather Servic ...
, to Josef H. Meir, an Israeli of Iraqi-Jewish descent, and Ulla-Britt Meir from
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. Her father was born in
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
,
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
in 1925. His family left in 1931 because of
antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
, moving to British
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...
. Studying medicine at the
American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...
when the
1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...
broke out, he returned to
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
and drove an ambulance. After the war he completed his medical studies at the
University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...
. While working as a physician in Sweden he met Ulla-Britt Karlsson, a nurse from
Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...
who had grown up as a
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
. The couple moved to the US so that Josef could take up a medical residency at
Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...
. While there he was offered a job in Caribou where Meir was born. Her mother did not convert to
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
but Meir identifies as culturally Jewish, attended
synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
while growing up, and had a
bat mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age, they a ...
. She was inspired to venture into space after watching the
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
missions on television. Meir knew no one who worked for NASA or for the space program. She attributes her abiding dream of personally participating in space exploration to the love of nature she learned from her mother, and from her father's predilection for wandering and adventure. "And it might have had something to do with the fact that the stars shone so brightly in rural Maine", Meir added. At the age of 13, Meir attended a youth space camp at
Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...
. During her undergraduate biology studies at
Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
, she also spent a semester studying at
Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...
in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
during her undergraduate years, and ran a student experiment on a NASA reduced gravity aircraft "vomit comet" in her senior year. Meir graduated from Brown in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
, ''
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
''. In 2000, Meir graduated with a Master of Space Studies from the
International Space University The International Space University (ISU) is a higher education institute headquartered in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, a suburb of Strasbourg, France. It is dedicated to the discovery, research, and development of outer space and its applications f ...
in
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, France.


Comparative physiology research

Meir earned a Ph.D. in
marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...
in 2009 from the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for oceanography and Earth science at the University of California, San Diego. Its main campus is located in La Jolla, with additional facilities in Point Loma. Founded in 1903 and incorpo ...
for research on the diving physiology of
emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...
s and
northern elephant seal The northern elephant seal (''Mirounga angustirostris'') is one of two species of elephant seal (the other is the southern elephant seal). It is a member of the family Phocidae (true seals). Elephant seals derive their name from their great s ...
s. Meir performed field work at ''Penguin Ranch'' on
McMurdo Sound The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica, known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately from the South Pole. Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841 and named it after Lieutenant ...
in
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
to study the diving abilities of the emperor penguin while
scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...
alongside them under the ice. She also studied elephant seals while they were diving in the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
off
Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
. Meir did post-doctoral research at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
, raising bar-headed geese so their tolerance of high altitude and low oxygen levels during flight over the
Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
could be studied in a controlled environment. For the 2012 academic year she continued her research as an assistant professor of
anesthesia Anesthesia (American English) or anaesthesia (British English) is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prev ...
at the Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital and then took a leave of absence to enter the astronaut corps.


NASA career

After getting her master's degree, Meir worked from 2000 to 2003 for
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...
Space Operations as an experiment support scientist for the Human Research Facility at the
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...
(JSC) in
Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
. Meir coordinated and supported human space life science experiments that were performed by
astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...
s on
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
and
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
(ISS) missions. These experiments included physiological studies (bone loss, muscle control/atrophy, lung function, etc.) to determine if any bodily processes were altered in the spaceflight environment. Meir guided these experiments through the necessary review cycles, developed procedures that the astronauts would use on-orbit, trained crew members, and provided ground support in the Mission Control Center while the astronauts were performing the experiments on the shuttle or ISS. In September 2002, Meir served as an
aquanaut An aquanaut is any person who remains underwater, breathing at the ambient pressure for long enough for the concentration of the inert components of the breathing gas dissolved in the body tissues to reach equilibrium, in a state known as sat ...
on the joint NASA-
NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploratio ...
NEEMO 4 expedition (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations), an exploration research mission held in Aquarius, an undersea research laboratory four miles off shore from Key Largo. Meir and her crewmates spent five days
saturation diving Saturation diving is an ambient pressure diving technique which allows a diver to remain at working depth for extended periods during which the body tissues become solubility, saturated with metabolically inert gas from the breathing gas mixture ...
from the Aquarius habitat as a space analogue for working and training under extreme environmental conditions. The mission was delayed due to Hurricane Isadore, forcing National Undersea Research Center managers to shorten it to an underwater duration of five days. Then, three days into their underwater mission, the crew members were told that Tropical Storm Lili was headed in their direction and to prepare for an early departure from Aquarius. Fortunately, Lili degenerated to the point where it was no longer a threat, so the crew was able to remain the full five days. At the time of NEEMO 4, Meir was leaning toward pursuing a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in a field related to
evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biolo ...
and/or life in
extreme environment An extreme environment is a habitat that is considered very hard to survive in due to its considerably extreme conditions such as temperature, accessibility to different energy sources or under high pressure. For an area to be considered an extre ...
s (
astrobiology Astrobiology (also xenology or exobiology) is a scientific field within the List of life sciences, life and environmental sciences that studies the abiogenesis, origins, Protocell, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the univ ...
). She was also fascinated by
marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...
(which suited the NEEMO mission well), and hoped to coordinate a specific topic of study to combine these main interests. She received her PhD in marine biology from
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for oceanography and Earth science at the University of California, San Diego. Its main campus is located in La Jolla, with additional facilities in Point Loma. Founded in 1903 and incorpo ...
, studying diving physiology, in 2009. In 2009, Meir was a semi-finalist for selection to NASA Astronaut Group 20. For the next selection group in June 2013, Meir was chosen as one of eight astronaut candidates for training in NASA Astronaut Group 21. She completed training in July 2015. In 2016, she participated in the ESA CAVES mission of the
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
alongside Ricky Arnold, Sergei Korsakov, Aki Hoshide,
Ye Guangfu Ye Guangfu ( zh, s=叶光富, p=Yè Guāngfù; born September 1980) is a Chinese fighter pilot and People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonaut selected as part of the Shenzhou program. A veteran of the Shenzhou 13 and Shenzhou 1 ...
and
Pedro Duque Pedro Francisco Duque Duque, Order of Friendship, OF, Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration", OMSE (born Madrid, 14 March 1963) is a Spanish astronaut and aeronautics engineer who served as Ministry of Science (Spain), minister of Science from ...
. During her time in the astronaut office, Meir has served as the
capsule communicator Flight controllers are personnel who aid space flight by working in mission control centers such as NASA's Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center or ESA's European Space Operations Centre. Flight controllers work at computer consoles ...
for various missions. She was the lead capsule communicator for Expedition 47, the BEAM mission, and a HTV (Japanese Space Agency cargo vehicle) mission. Meir is a member of the science advisory board of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation.


Expedition 61/62

In April 2019 NASA announced that Meir had been assigned to the crew of
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
Expedition 61 Expedition 61 was the 61st Expedition to the International Space Station, which began on 3 October 2019 with the undocking of the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft. The Expedition was commanded by European Space Agency, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, who be ...
/ 62 as flight engineer, scheduled to launch aboard Soyuz MS-15 alongside
Roscosmos The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos", commonly known simply as Roscosmos (), is a State corporation (Russia), state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space science, space flights, List of space agencies, c ...
cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and MBRSC astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri, who flew a short duration mission and landed with the crew of Soyuz MS-12 eight days after launch. Meir, Skripochka and Al Mansouri launched aboard MS-15 on September 25, 2019, marking the final flight of the
Soyuz-FG The Soyuz-FG was an improved variant of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle from the R-7 (rocket family), R-7 rocket family, developed by the Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia. It featured upgraded first and second stage engines, RD-107A and ...
rocket and final launch from the
Gagarin's Start Gagarin's Start (, ''Gagarinskiy start''), also known as Baikonur Site 1 or Site 1/5 was a launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that was used by the Soviet space program and Roscosmos. History 20th century The launchpad f ...
launch pad, both of which were retired following launch of Soyuz MS-15. The crew successfully reached orbit and rendezvoused with the ISS only six hours later. Soyuz MS-15 docked to the ISS at the very end of
Expedition 60 Expedition 60 was the 60th Expedition to the International Space Station, which began on 24 June 2019 with the undocking of the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft. The expedition was commanded by Aleksey Ovchinin, who transferred from Expedition 59 toget ...
, meaning it marked an unusual period on the station where there were nine people aboard. The reason for this was to allow for Al Mansouri's flight, in which he became the first person from the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
to fly in space. Expedition 60 ended on October 3, 2019, when Al Mansouri, alongside Soyuz MS-12 crew members Aleksey Ovchinin and Nick Hague, undocked from the station and returned to Earth, returning the ISS to normal six-crew operations during Expedition 61. During Expedition 61, Meir was scheduled to perform three spacewalks during this mission to help install new
lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy ...
on the Port-6 truss structure of the ISS, although this schedule was later changed. On October 18, 2019, Meir performed her first spacewalk alongside her colleague Christina Koch, replacing a faulty Battery Charging Discharging Unit. The unit had unexpectedly failed to activate, preventing the station's newly installed lithium-ion batteries from providing additional power. The three other scheduled spacewalks scheduled to install the new batteries had to be postponed in order to perform this spacewalk. The spacewalk lasted seven hours and 17 minutes, and was the first all-female spacewalk in history. During the spacewalk US president
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
called and spoke to the astronauts in recognition of the historical significance of this event, being corrected by Meir after mistakenly announcing the event as the first time a woman was outside the space station. On February 6, 2020, Koch, alongside Soyuz MS-13 crew members Aleksandr Skvortsov and
Luca Parmitano Luca Parmitano (born 27 September 1976 in Paternò, Sicily) is an Italian astronaut in the European Astronaut Corps for the European Space Agency (ESA). He was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009. Parmitano is also a colonel and test pilot ...
, returned to Earth, following which Meir, Skripochka and Andrew Morgan transferred over to Expedition 62. Due to delays with NASA's
Commercial Crew Program The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) provides Private spaceflight, commercially operated human spaceflight, crew transportation service to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under contract to NASA, conducting crew rotations between t ...
, most of this increment was spent as a crew of three. During the final eight days of the Expedition, the crew was joined by the three person crew of Soyuz MS-16, Russian cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner joined by NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy, who launched and docked to the station on April 9, 2020. Although their time as a six-person crew was short, the expanded Expedition 62 crew made the most of their time together, conducting experiments on how muscles react to long duration spaceflight as part of NASA's Muscle tone in space (Myotones) experiment. On April 13 Meir and Cassidy, both Maine natives, participated in a live conference with several students from around Maine; the two, joined by Andrew Morgan, also participated in a segment of '' Some Good News'', an internet show hosted by American actor
John Krasinski John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), where he was also a producer and occasional director. He directed, co-w ...
to spread good news during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. On April 17, 2020, Meir, joined by Skripochka and Morgan, returned to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-15, wrapping up a 205-day spaceflight for Meir and Skripochka and returning Morgan from a 272-day flight. The Soyuz capsule touched down near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 11:16am local time. The departure of the three crew members signaled the start of Expedition 63, commanded by Cassidy.


Personal life

Meir played
flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
,
piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...
, and
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
in her youth, and enjoys reading classical literature. She enjoys recreational cycling, hiking, running, skiing, soccer and scuba diving, and holds a private pilot's license. Apart from English and
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
(required for astronaut training), she also speaks Swedish. Although Meir's nationality is American, due to also holding Swedish
citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...
by virtue of her mother's country of birth, she is technically the first Swedish female citizenship-holder in space and the second Swedish citizen in space overall after ESA astronaut
Christer Fuglesang Arne Christer Fuglesang (born 18 March 1957) is a Swedish physicist and an ESA astronaut. He was first launched aboard the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on 10 December 2006, making him the first Swedish citizen in space. Married with three child ...
. Astronauts are allowed to bring a number of personal items to the International Space Station, and two among Meir's choices were an
Israeli flag The flag of the State of Israel ( ; ) was adopted on 28 October 1948, five months after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. It consists of a white background with a blue Star of David in the centre and two horizontal blue stripes at the ...
and a pair of novelty socks with
Stars of David The Star of David (, , ) is a symbol generally recognized as representing both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the Seal of Solomon was used for decora ...
and menorahs. Most of Meir's relatives from her father's side reside in Israel. Meir has visited
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
twice: the first time as a teenager with her parents and her brother, and the second time in 2016 for work as an astronaut where she gave a talk in
Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
, Israel, at the
International Space University The International Space University (ISU) is a higher education institute headquartered in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, a suburb of Strasbourg, France. It is dedicated to the discovery, research, and development of outer space and its applications f ...
summer session. Among other things, she also took pictures of Israel from space. On
International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...
in 2023, Meir announced the recent birth of her first child, a girl, on her Instagram account. Her partner and co-parent is Duke Brady, an artist and biologist who grew up in Hawaii. He has appeared on two seasons of the ''
Naked and Afraid ''Naked and Afraid'' is an American reality series that airs on the Discovery Channel. Each episode chronicles the lives of two survivalists who meet for the first time naked and are given the task of surviving a stay in the wilderness for 21 ...
'' series.


Awards

Awards granted to Meir include: * Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) Scholar Award (2008); * Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Fellowship (2006); * Lockheed Martin Space Operations (LMSO) Special Recognition Award (2002); * NASA JSC Space and Life Sciences Directorate Special Professional Achievement Award (2002); * Lockheed Martin Technology Services "Lightning Award" (2002); * Honorary Doctor of Technology from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden (2020); * Sir Charles Sherrington Prize Lecture & Medal (2021), University of Oxford; * President's Lecture & Medal (2021), The Physiological Society of the United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland.


References


External links

*
Postdoctoral research

Penguin Ranch blog

Youtube: Meir in Antarctica

Video of Meir with bar-headed geese

National Science Foundation (NSF) Discoveries – Into Thin Air

Elephant Seals – Earthguide


* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeY0JrI64pM Skavlan interview after return from ISS (May 2020) {{DEFAULTSORT:Meir, Jessica 1977 births American astronauts American aviators 21st-century American explorers American marine biologists American people of Israeli descent American people of Iraqi-Jewish descent American people of Swedish descent American underwater divers Aquanauts Brown University alumni Crew members of the International Space Station American explorers of Antarctica Harvard Medical School faculty International Space University alumni Living people NASA people People from Caribou, Maine People from Somerville, Massachusetts Scripps Institution of Oceanography alumni Swedish astronauts Swedish people of Israeli descent Swedish people of Jewish descent University of British Columbia alumni Women astronauts American women physiologists Spacewalkers American women astronauts 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews