Long Island's Jasmin Moghbeli is aboard the International Space Station after successful SpaceX docking
Jasmin Moghbelli of Baldwin, bottom and second from the right, and crew arrive at the International Space Station on Sunday. Credit: NASA TV
Long Island's Jasmin Moghbeli and three other astronauts of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 floated aboard the International Space Station Sunday morning, marking the beginning of a long-dreamed-of trip to space for the Baldwin-raised pilot.
“It's so good to see all your smiling faces,” said Moghbeli, surrounded by 10 other crew members crammed into three rows inside the station. “As you know, we've been training together for a while for this exact moment where we could join you and continue the amazing work that's done on the International Space Station.”
Moghbeli, a Marine pilot serving as commander, is joined on the six-month mission by the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russia’s Konstantin Borisov. The international crew of four joined the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of seven.
It’s Moghbeli’s first trip to space.
The flight from the Kennedy Space Center to the weightless station took nearly 30 hours after their spacecraft lifted off before dawn Saturday. But for Moghbeli, her journey to space began much earlier.
Born in Germany to parents who fled Iran after its 1979 revolution, Moghbeli, in a sixth-grade book report, wrote about Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. In 1963, Tereshkova was the first woman to go to space.
With her mother’s help, Moghbeli also made a makeshift spacesuit constructed of white windbreakers and a plastic container that served as the helmet.
“I still wake up and go, 'I can’t believe that I’m actually a NASA astronaut,’” Moghbeli said during a trip back to Lenox Elementary School and Baldwin High School in March.
Now dressed in her blue flight suit, Moghbeli flashed big smiles and high-fived with crewmates during the nine-minute-long welcome ceremony after SpaceX Dragon, the spacecraft that carried the astronauts, docked onto the station at 9:16 a.m. The crew on board greeted the new members with smiles and handshakes after hatches opened at 10:58 a.m. to allow Crew-7 to float in.
“I think we represent a good crew to be coming to the International Space Station,” Moghbeli said in her remarks, which were livestreamed through NASA’s website.
The number of crew members aboard the space station increased to 11 Sunday until the four Crew-6 members return to Earth in a few days, NASA said.
Crew-7 will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations to prepare for missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond, NASA said.
Moghbeli graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. She earned a master’s degree of science in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, according to her bio on NASA’s website.
She was also a helicopter and Marine Corps test pilot, logging more than 150 combat missions and 2,000 hours of flight time, NASA said.
Even in space, Moghbeli keeps her Long Island alma mater close. She said in March that three Lenox items — a "Lenox strong" bracelet, a pin about Lenox pride and a drawing from a fifth-grader — would be among the roughly shoebox-sized personal items she’s allowed to carry with her.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
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