Pittsfield Native Could Be First Woman to Walk on The Moon

NASA astronaut and Taconic High School class of 1984 graduate Stephanie Wilson could make history in outer space, for the second time.

NASA’s international spaceflight mission Artemis is focused on landing the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024, and Pittsfield native Wilson is part of that training. As a NASA Astronaut, Wilson is one of 18 astronauts in the program and she is currently poised to become the first woman to walk on the moon.

Wilson was raised in Pittsfield and attended Crosby School (then a junior high) and graduated from Taconic High School. She went on to attended Harvard University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering science, and eventually earned a master of science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin before being selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1996.

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Wilson is already a veteran of three spaceflights, in 2006, 2007, and 2010 after which she has logged more than 42 hours in space, which is more time than any other African- American woman in the world.

In 2006 as part of the space shuttle Recovery team, Wilson became just the second African American woman in NASA's history to travel to space, following in the footsteps of Mae Jemison.

In 2010 as part of the Expedition 23 team on Space Shuttle Discovery Wilson was one of four women in space at the same time, another first in history. 

The Artemis mission, which is named for the Greek goddess of the Moon and the twin sister of the Greek god, Apollo, aims to send astronauts to Mars in addition to the moon. Wilson could be one selected to participate in the Mars mission as well.