In 2019, Jewish Swedish-Israeli-Iraqi American Jessica Meir made history when she participated in the first-ever all-female spacewalk. The road to becoming a Jewish trailblazing astronaut wasn’t easy — she worked her tuchus off to earn her legacy.
Meir, 42, has always been passionate about traveling to space — the youngest of five, she made it clear to everyone that her dream would become a reality — but took some pit stops on her way to the final destination: She camped out in Antarctica to capture emperor penguins with her bare hands and trained a flock of geese to think she was their mother so she could conduct experiments with them.
Though she was recruited to Harvard for her work with animals, Meir ultimately wound up in NASA’s highly competitive astronaut training program. It took her three tries to be accepted, but you know what they say — the third time truly is the charm.
Learn more about Jessica Meir’s incredible career in this short video:
