While in grade school, NASA Astronaut Jessica Watkins dreamed of exploring outer space and becoming an astronaut. 

And although Watkins found a passion for geology while excelling in academics and sports like rugby, she never envisioned that lifelong dream was possible. Then one day in 2017 she received a phone call that changed her life. 

“I got the phone call (asking me if I) want to come down to Johnson Space Center,” she said. “It was really quite a moment of realizing that (childhood) dream.”

Three years after joining the astronaut corps, the Lafayette native was assigned to NASA’s Artemis Team, with its goal to reach the moon by 2024. 

If assigned to the future moon landing mission, Watkins would be the first woman to take a step on the moon.

“It’s very exciting to have that be a possibility, especially for me as a planetary geologist, you know. I did a lot of my graduate work on the geology of other surfaces, so to be able to go and actually put boots on those surface would be a dream come true.”

“Even being a part of the (astronaut) corps and thinking about going to another planetary body is pretty amazing.”

The Artemis Team is made up of nine women and nine men from the astronaut corps that each brings a different expertise.

“We are a team that we all come with different strengths, different skill sets and it’s really the combination of all those skill sets that’s going to allow us to be successful and accomplish the goals we want to with Artemis,” Watkins said. 

Watkins specializes in geology and has conducted research on Mars soil simulate that supported Phoenix Mars Lander mission, while also focusing her doctorate research at the University of California Los Angeles on the emplacement mechanism of large landslides on Earth and Mars.

“She’s just an incredible person, she’s really smart in what she does,” said Fellow Artemis Team member and Coloradan Matthew Dominick. 

Although Watkins considered Lafayette to be her hometown, she was actually born in Gaithersburg, Md., and spent most of her life growing up in Colorado. 

Throughout her grade school years, besides falling in love with geology, she played basketball, soccer and rugby. 

Watkins left Colorado to attend Stanford University. 

Whenever she does return to Colorado to visit her parents in Lafayette, aside from spending time with her folks, she enjoys hiking, rock climbing, seeing snow and hitting the slopes on skis, she said. 

But one of her most treasured activities recently is sharing her love of geology with one of Dominick’s daughters.

“She’s definitely a budding geologist, which makes me so excited. He’s definitely super supportive of it by getting her on the phone with me, and it’s so fun for me to hear her excitement, and her passion for it,” Watkins said. 

“It’s really awesome to just engage with her and kind of provide some perspective of what we’re doing here, and it’s really about inspiring the next generation, getting them engaged and on board and excited about the STEM fields.”

Watkins hopes that young girls and children of color see what she’s doing and know that they too can accomplish anything.

“I think representation is really important in whatever form it looks like, so somebody who looks like you, has the same background as you, came from the same place from you; whatever connection you can make can be helpful … in starting to see those paths of possibilities,” Watkins said.

“To be able to see yourself in somebody else’s (boots) and see those dreams become a reality and start to understand that those can be a reality for you as well … (and I hope) that the next generation of explorers can be inspired (by us).”