A Palestinian Female Scientist is Part of NASA's Orion Spacecraft in the Artemis 1 Program!
By: Arab America Contributor Writer / Carrie Stewart
You may have a dream to work for NASA or go into space. Well, one talented Palestinian woman actually got to be a major part of NASA’s Artemis 1 mission! This article will dive into her work and how she stays connected to her Arab roots.
Nujoud Fahoum Merancy
Nujoud Fahoum Merancy earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in aerospace engineering. According to newarab.com, she said, “My father was a civil engineer, so the familiarity with engineering is what I gravitated to. I’m a technical person, I like logical stuff and puzzles. And this is really just a giant puzzle.” “I credit my dad for introducing me to it all that long ago.”
Before NASA she worked on the International Space Station at Boeing. Now she is a part of the Artemis mission, a NASA program with the goal of astronauts flying to the Moon. At NASA she is the chief of exploration mission planning. She has been in the space sector for more than 20 years and was the “first woman of color to be selected for the US moon mission!”
The Mission
The point of the mission she is leading is to “test the performance of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.”
Merancy said, “The first part of the program is the launch of Artemis 1, which is an uncrewed test flight of the rocket that will one day carry astronauts. It has so far been delayed three times due to technical faults and weather conditions, but NASA hopes for another attempt in early October.”
“If successful, it would pave the way for NASA to launch Artemis 2 and 3, crewed flights around the Moon and the first human lunar landing mission under the program.”
Just a few days ago, space.com released an article that “NASA’s Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft completed a crucial moon flyby maneuver for the trip home.” According to the article “The uncrewed Orion successfully completed a 207-second engine burn — its longest of the Artemis 1 mission — Monday (Dec. 5) at 11:43 a.m. EST (1643 GMT), while it was just 79 miles (128 kilometers) above the lunar surface.”
The article said, “The “powered return flyby” burn put Orion on track to return to Earth on Dec. 11. On that day, the capsule will barrel into Earth’s atmosphere at nearly 25,000 mph (40,000 kph), giving its heat shield a serious stress test. The structure will experience temperatures of about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,800 Celsius) — half as hot as the surface of the sun.”
“If the heat shield and Orion’s parachutes do their jobs on Dec. 11, the capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, bringing an end to the Artemis 1 mission.”
“Orion now has its sights set on home,” NASA spokesperson Sandra Jones said during a live broadcast on NASA Television Monday.
Merancy’s Roots
According to thenationalnews.com, Merancy has also been working on connecting to her Palestinian roots. “She went viral on the internet in 2019 when she posted her official NASA photo, in which she wore a blazer embroidered with Palestinian tatreez, a traditional cross-stitch, that she bought during a visit to her father’s hometown of Nazareth.”
She has said, “I don’t speak Arabic, unfortunately, it’s one of those regrets that I’ll always have,” she said.” “But I do enjoy the food and that is something I grew up on. And then as an adult, I started cooking.”
“As a Palestinian-American, I’m very excited to be a part of this program,” she said.
“It’s important to me and to a lot of us that it represents all of humanity and Artemis itself is international because we have international partners.”
She has started using the phrase on Twitter #YallaToTheMoon.
When talking about how important it is for people of all backgrounds to feel represented she explained to The New Arab. “I don’t think growing up I saw any positive representation of Palestinians. So it’s very difficult as a child to understand who you are when you don’t see a positive representation of someone that looks like you in the media.”
If you are interested stay updated about the mission and what’s to come and check out Merancy’s social media!
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