{"id":438181,"date":"2023-02-28T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/astronaut-jessica-watkins-visits-local-school-nasa-ames-bay-area-homecoming\/"},"modified":"2023-02-28T21:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T21:30:00","slug":"astronaut-jessica-watkins-visits-local-school-nasa-ames-bay-area-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"image-article","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/astronaut-jessica-watkins-visits-local-school-nasa-ames-bay-area-homecoming\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronaut Jessica Watkins Visits Local School and NASA Ames in Bay Area Homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1041\" height=\"925\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg?w=1041\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Two elementary school children facing away from the camera talking to astronaut Jessica Watkins, wearing a blue jump suit. Watkins is holding a microphone and her head is tilted towards the children.\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg 1041w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg?resize=300,267 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg?resize=768,682 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg?resize=1024,910 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg?resize=400,355 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg?resize=600,533 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg?resize=900,800 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins visited NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley on Tuesday, February 28, where she had the opportunity to engage with a local elementary school and speak with Ames employees.<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins visited NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley on Tuesday, February 28, where she had the opportunity to engage with a local elementary school and speak with Ames employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“This really is like coming home for me,” said Watkins while addressing the Ames workforce. “This center has its fingerprints all over my story.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watkins is a member of NASA Astronaut Group 22 and the first African American woman to serve to a long-duration mission to the International Space Station. She recently logged a total of 170 days in space over two expeditions as a mission specialist on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She started her career with NASA at Ames, where she conducted research on Mars soil simulant supporting the Phoenix Mars Lander mission through an undergraduate internship while studying at Stanford University. Her return to the center provided the opportunity to talk to the Ames workforce and share her experiences training as an astronaut candidate and living in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the afternoon, she also visited Mariano Castro Elementary School in Mountain View, California, where she had the opportunity to tour the school, share her experiences, and answer questions from students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“It was an honor to welcome Jessica back to Ames,” said Center Director Eugene Tu. “The breadth of her experiences and accomplishments is an inspiration to all of us at the center and in the local community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For news media<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the <a href=\"mailto:arc-dl-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov\">NASA Ames newsroom<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Image caption: <\/strong>Astronaut Jessica Watkins visited Mariano Castro Elementary School in Mountain View, California on February 28, where she had the opportunity to tour the school, share her experiences, and answer questions from students. <strong>Credits<\/strong>: NASA Ames\/Dominic Hart<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Author: Frank Tavares, NASA’s Ames Research Center<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins visited NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley on Tuesday, February 28, where she had the opportunity to engage with a local elementary school and speak with Ames employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":215942,"template":"","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[]},"categories":[],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[],"coauthors":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Astronaut Jessica Watkins Visits Local School and NASA Ames in Bay Area Homecoming","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/astronaut-jessica-watkins-visits-local-school-nasa-ames-bay-area-homecoming\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/astronaut-jessica-watkins-visits-local-school-nasa-ames-bay-area-homecoming\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg"},"articleSection":"General","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NASA"}],"creator":["NASA"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2023-02-28T21:30:00Z","datePublished":"2023-02-28T21:30:00Z","dateModified":"2023-02-28T21:30:00Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"Astronaut Jessica Watkins Visits Local School and NASA Ames in Bay Area Homecoming\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/astronaut-jessica-watkins-visits-local-school-nasa-ames-bay-area-homecoming\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2023-02-28T21:30:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"General\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"NASA\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":2,"featured_image":{"id":215942,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/watkins_feature.jpeg","title":"Astronaut Jessica Watkins Visits Local School and NASA Ames in Bay Area Homecoming","alt":"Two elementary school children facing away from the camera talking to astronaut Jessica Watkins, wearing a blue jump suit. Watkins is holding a microphone and her head is tilted towards the children.","caption":"NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins visited NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley on Tuesday, February 28, where she had the opportunity to engage with a local elementary school and speak with Ames employees."},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/image-article\/438181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/image-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/image-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/image-article\/438181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438181"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=438181"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=438181"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=438181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}