As she prepared for the SpaceX Crew-10 launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday evening, Colorado astronaut Nichole Ayers shared her feelings about the historic moment.
"I'm excited about the view, getting to see the world from that perspective... and I'm excited to share the experience with this team," Ayers said.
The mission will send Ayers, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the International Space Station (ISS) to perform critical research, technology demonstrations and maintenance activities. The Crew-10 Mission will be Ayers' first spaceflight, after she was selected as part of the crew in May of last year.
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science space curator laid out what a day in the life could look like for Ayers, in the video player below:
It's not only a monumental achievement for Ayers, but also a critical step forward in NASA’s efforts to understand the physiological and psychological changes that occur in the human body during extended space missions. Crew-10 will conduct more than 200 scientific experiments, including material flammability tests for future spacecraft designs and studies on human health that will inform NASA’s plans for future deep space exploration.
"I'm involved in a cartilage study, a bone study, an eye study, so all sorts of different things that we're going to learn just from living in space for a long duration," Ayers said. "And you know, I'm excited to see how we use all of those experiments to then get onto the moon and onto Mars, and how we use that and extrapolate that data into longer duration missions as we continue to explore further outside of our atmosphere and and onto the universe."
The Wednesday launch is the 10th crew rotation mission with SpaceX and is part of NASA's broader Commercial Crew Program, aimed at fostering partnerships with private companies to facilitate space exploration.
For Ayers, the mission represents the culmination of years of rigorous training and preparation. Before her selection as a NASA astronaut in 2021, Ayers honed her skills as a pilot and mission commander in the U.S. Air Force, accumulating more than 1,400 flight hours, including over 200 in combat. She learned to fly a variety of aircraft, including the T-38 and the F-22 Raptor, both of which prepared her for the unique challenges she will face in space.
"One of the most challenging parts of our training here in ASCAN training is the Neutral Buoyancy Lab and learning how to do a space walk," Ayers said. "You know, as a F-22 pilot, we were kind of on the operational tip of the spear in the military, and now we get to go do things that are on the operational tip of the spear for humanity, and go out into the vacuum of space in a space suit that is basically like a small spacecraft."
Women's History Month
Colorado astronaut Nichole Ayers is headed to space with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10
Ayers said she was inspired to become a pilot and go through all that training living in Colorado.
"Growing up right there in Colorado, next to the Air Force Academy during the shuttle era, when I learned you could fly the shuttle, I was like, 'Oh, sold, that's what I want to do,'" Ayers said. "It was just a natural decision for me."
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science space curator shows Denver7 a mockup of the ISS in the video player below:
Dr.. Ka Chun Yu with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science demonstrated an example of what the food on the ISS looks like. In preparation for the launch, Ayers shared what she requested to have on board.
"We get to choose basically almost anything that's from the grocery store that can be considered shelf stable," Ayers said. "The food lab can then test it and either approve it or deny it based on microbial growth. So actually, one of the things I'm looking forward to most, I found this little pack of hiking peanut butter on our recent trip to Washington State, to the northwest... and then I also had some chocolate chips approved. So I'm going to take those chocolate chips, put them on the peanut butter on a spoon, and twirl it around. It's my niece and nephew's favorite snack. So I'm excited to share that with them."
This crew also got to design the patch for their mission, which Ayers said she was one of the masterminds behind.
"We wanted to highlight the fact that all four of us are professionally trained pilots, which is why the wings are featured on the patch And then the ascending and descending trajectory in the form of a Roman numeral X for crew 10. There's 10 sides to the patch," Ayers explained.
The crew takes off at 5:48 p.m. MST — a lifelong dream for Ayers.
"Find something you’re passionate about, work hard at it, and surround yourself with good people," she advised young people who may be watching. "You’ll be on a team, and being a good teammate is key to success."