News

NASA has announced that Dr. Jeanette Epps ’92 will be a member of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission, which will launch in early 2024 to conduct a wide-range of operational and research activities. This will be the first time Epps has traveled to the space station; she will serve as a mission specialist.

According to release from NASA announcing the mission, Epps was “…selected as an astronaut in July 2009, and has served on the Generic Joint Operation Panel working on space station crew efficiency, as a crew support astronaut for two expeditions, and as lead capsule communicator in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Epps previously was assigned to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission. NASA reassigned Epps to allow Boeing time to complete development of Starliner while also continuing plans for astronauts to gain spaceflight experience for future mission needs.”

A native of Syracuse, Epps graduated from Le Moyne with a bachelor’s in physics and earned her master’s in science and doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland. She currently serves on Le Moyne’s board of trustees and was the College's commencement speaker in 2016. See coverage on Syracuse.com and WSYR Channel 9.