Nicole Aunapu Mann is definitely among the many biggest gamers in Navy ladies’s soccer historical past. Now, her out-of-this-world performances carry new that means.
In 2013, Aunapu Mann was chosen as considered one of eight members of NASA Astronaut Group 21, reaching a dream set shortly after incomes her wings of gold a decade earlier than.
The California native is considered one of solely two four-time, first-team All-Patriot League picks ever produced by this system.
Enjoying underneath her maiden title, Nicole Aunapu, additionally excelled within the classroom, being named a primary crew Educational All-American by the School Sports activities Data Administrators of America in 1997 and 1998. She was twice chosen as Patriot League Girls’s Scholar-Athlete of the 12 months.
That drive and willpower that made Aunapu Mann such a profitable soccer participant and midshipman on the Naval Academy has led to a distinguished post-graduate profession. She acquired Marine Corps aviation as a service choice and wound up flying the F/A-18 Hornet.
Aunapu Mann logged greater than 2,500 flight hours in 25 forms of plane and 200 provider landings, whereas flying 47 fight missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. She acquired two Air Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals in recognition of exemplary service.
She graduated as a member of Class 135 from the U.S. Naval Take a look at Pilot Faculty in July 2008. Col. Aunapu Mann made historical past in October 2022 when she served as commander of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance. She led a global crew of 4 astronauts that spent practically six months on the Worldwide Area Station.
Aunapu Mann, who’s registered with the Wailacki of the Spherical Valley Indian Tribes, turned the primary Indigenous lady to launch into orbit. She performed two spacewalks totaling 14 hours, 2 minutes.
Aunapu Mann’s journey started with a option to play faculty soccer on the Naval Academy, impressed to cross the nation by coach Carin Gabarra, a former All-American on the College of California, Santa Barbara and United States ladies’s nationwide crew member.
“I used to be all the time fascinated about serving within the army as a result of I wished to be a part of one thing larger than myself and serve my nation. I additionally actually loved math and science, so these two components are why I wound up specializing in the service academies,” Aunapu Mann stated. “The ultimate piece was Carin Gabarra, who was my idol as a child. I watched Carin play soccer whereas rising up and had a poster of her on the wall of my bed room. Once I came upon she was the top coach on the Naval Academy, all of it got here collectively.”
Aunapu Mann turned an instantaneous starter at marking again as a 5-foot-5 plebe. In these days, Navy employed a one-versus-one defensive scheme with a sweeper as a security valve and Aunapu Mann’s job was to close down the opponent’s most harmful scorer.
“Nicole simply had the mentality piece. Your job is to mark one individual and the problem is to see who’s going to win that duel,” Gabarra stated. “Nicole’s competitiveness and toughness have been distinctive. She was a relentless defender who was additionally excellent on the ball and will jump-start the assault after profitable possession.”
Aunapu Mann was named Patriot League Defender of the 12 months as each a junior and senior. She was a four-time United Soccer Coaches All-East Area choice, incomes second crew honors as a senior captain.
Wanting again, Aunapu Mann realizes how her time with Navy ladies’s soccer helped put together her to turn into an officer.
“Being a member of the soccer crew, you study a lot about peer management and dealing collectively to beat challenges,” she stated. “You win and lose collectively. As a younger lady, I noticed the Marine Corps was my subsequent crew.”
From fighter jets to spacecraft
Throughout summer season coaching earlier than her senior yr, Aunapu Mann was launched to aviation and the world of fighter jets, which was a transformational expertise.
“I did not have all of it found out once I went to Annapolis. I did not know what I wished to do within the army,” she stated. “Pretty early on I knew I wished to be a Marine. It wasn’t till the summer season earlier than my firstie yr that I received a journey within the again seat of an F-18. I keep in mind pondering, ‘You are telling me I generally is a pilot and a Marine? Signal me up and let’s do that.'”
After graduating the academy with a level in mechanical engineering, Aunapu Mann attended graduate college at Stanford and earned a grasp’s diploma in mechanical engineering with a specialization in fluid mechanics.
Whereas stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in North Carolina, Aunapu Mann deployed twice aboard the usEnterprise in assist of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Shortly thereafter, Aunapu Mann realized she missed the engineering aspect of army service, which led her to use to the U.S. Naval Take a look at Pilot Faculty. “It was a approach to be a fighter pilot and an engineer — form of put these two issues collectively,” she stated.
Whereas attending the varsity at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Aunapu Mann had the sunshine bulb second that has proved life altering.
“I got here throughout on-line the biographies of a pair Marine astronauts. I used to be studying their bios and was like ‘Ah, they flew F-18s and I fly F-18s. They went to check pilot college and I’ll check pilot college.’ It turned obvious this was one thing I might do sooner or later,” she stated.
Aunapu Mann accomplished her NASA coaching in 2015 and served as a T-38 Talon security and coaching officer in addition to assistant to the Chief of Exploration. She labored on the event of the Orion spacecraft together with area launch and exploration floor methods.
Being named commander of the SpaceX Crew-5 mission was each a tremendous honor and large duty. In that position, Aunapu Mann led a global crew that included one other Navy pilot, a Japanese astronaut and Russian cosmonaut.
Endurance launched on Oct. 5, 2022, and flew to the Worldwide Area Station as a part of Expedition 68 with Crew-5 contributing to tons of of experiments and know-how demonstrations.
“It was essentially the most unimaginable factor I’ve ever achieved. You spend a lot time coaching in your mission onboard the area station, so while you stand up there you might be so excited to place all that coaching to work,” stated Aunapu Mann, noting the work concerned all the things from upkeep corresponding to upgrading the CO2 scrubbers to working with flying robots and coaching for spacewalks.
Whereas on the Johnson Area Heart upfront of the mission, Aunapu Mann ready for her two spacewalks contained in the NASA Impartial Buoyancy Laboratory. That concerned coaching for six hours at a time underwater in one of many world’s largest swimming pools with weight and foam used to control buoyancy to simulate full or partial gravity.
Nevertheless, nothing might put together Aunapu Mann for really placing on an area swimsuit and venturing exterior the station by means of an airlock. Her task was to carry out upgrades to the area station’s photo voltaic arrays.
“If you exit the door it is superb how comparable a number of the coaching is to doing an precise spacewalk,” she stated, “besides you do not have that stability of the water. When you do not weigh something in area, you continue to have a number of mass and a number of momentum, so it’s a must to learn to management that and it’s a must to use a number of finesse to be able to be efficient.
“If you’re exterior within the vacuum of area it is simply that visor between you and area. As you are hanging on to the area station by a tether and looking out down at planet earth, it is completely unimaginable.”
Aunapu Mann is as soon as once more stationed on the Johnson Area Heart in Houston and is tasked with supporting spacewalks for the Worldwide Area Station, performing robotics work and serving to with the event of latest area fits.
Is a moon touchdown subsequent?
Aunapu Mann can be taking part in an integral position within the growth of the Artemis program, which is meant to reestablish a human presence on the moon for the primary time because the Apollo 17 touchdown in 1972. This system’s acknowledged long-term aim is to ascertain a everlasting base on the moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.
“We’re going again to the moon by means of the Artemis program, so we’re testing new area fits and new spacecraft, creating landers and creating habitats for the moon. It is a very thrilling time,” stated Aunapu Mann, who hopes to hitch the elite record of astronauts which have stepped on the moon.
Being an astronaut is glamorous, nevertheless it’s additionally harmful. The Naval Academy has produced extra astronauts than any faculty establishment with Aunapu Mann changing into the 54th. Amongst them is Willie McCool, who was pilot of the area shuttle Columbia mission that disintegrated upon reentry into the ambiance, killing your complete crew.
Aunapu Mann acknowledged that her chosen occupation “isn’t with out dangers” and stated astronauts “do not take that calmly.” She stated it is essential to recollect all those that made the final word sacrifice and for NASA to study from previous errors.
“We’ve got to carry these very tight irrespective of how painful it’s as a result of we do not need to repeat these errors and lose one other crew member. We do give it some thought and discuss it very often,” Aunapu Mann stated. “There’s an enormous crew at NASA that’s making an attempt to create space exploration as secure as attainable, however on the finish of the day you might be strapped to a rocket and you might be leaving the planet. It’s harmful and it’s a must to clarify that to your dad and mom, your partner and your kids.”
Aunapu Mann lately acquired important recognition as she was amongst six former student-athletes to obtain the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award. It honors former student-athletes for his or her excellent athletic {and professional} achievements together with the twenty fifth anniversary of the conclusion of their collegiate careers.
“It was undoubtedly an amazing honor and an actual privilege to satisfy the opposite awardees, lots of whom I’ve heard of and have achieved some unimaginable issues,” Aunapu Mann stated.
Aunapu Mann returned to Annapolis this previous fall to spend three days on the academy and spoke to the Navy ladies’s soccer crew at the moment. Gabarra calls her well-known former participant “an extremely down-to-earth and humble one who is extraordinarily well-rounded.”
Former teammate Anne Kipp Klokaw exchanged emails with Aunapu Mann whereas the latter was residing and dealing aboard the Worldwide Area Station. Aunapu Mann needed to train whereas in orbit and wished a aim to work towards, so she and Kipp Klokaw agreed do the Ragnar Path Run in Zion Nationwide Park final spring.
Kipp Klokaw stated each member of the Navy ladies’s soccer program from 1995-98 is “immensely proud” of what their former teammate has achieved. Aunapu Mann credit faculty athletics with serving to her attain the rarified air of astronaut.
“There are such a lot of similarities between the crew I am on now and the Navy ladies’s soccer crew I used to be a part of for 4 years. As a university athlete, I did not understand how highly effective that was going to be,” she stated.
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