COMMANDER
JESSICA WATKINS
Dr. Watkins conducted her graduate research on the emplacement mechanisms of large landslides on Mars and Earth. She has worked at NASA’s Ames Research Center and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and was a science team collaborator for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity.
MISSION SPECIALIST
FRANK RUBIO
Rubio served as a platoon leader in A Company, 2-82nd Assault Aviation (REDHAWKS), and as a company commander in A Company, 2-3rd Aviation (STORM). Rubio also served as a clinic supervisor, an executive medicine provider and a flight surgeon at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. At the time of his selection in June 2017
PILOT
LORAL O'HARA
At the time of her selection in June 2017, O’Hara was a Research Engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where she spent eight years working on the engineering and operations of underwater vehicles such as the human-occupied research submersible Alvin and the remotely operated vehicle Jason.
FLIGHT ENGINEER
JOHNNY KIM
Kim was commissioned as a naval officer through an enlisted-to-officer program and earned his degree in mathematics at the University of San Diego and a doctorate of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Kim is a U.S. Navy SEAL and has completed more than 100 combat operations and is the recipient of the Silver Star and Bronze Star with Combat “V”.
