Jessica Meir (born 1977) is an American-Swedish
NASA astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. She was previously an assistant professor of anesthesia at
Harvard Medical School and
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, following
postdoctoral research in
comparative physiology at the
University of British Columbia. She has studied the diving physiology and behavior of
emperor penguins in Antarctica, and the physiology of
bar-headed geese, which are able to migrate over the
Himalayas. Meir launched on September 25, 2019, to the
International Space Station onboard
Soyuz MS-15, where she served as a flight engineer during
Expedition 61 and
Expedition 62. On October 18, 2019, Meir and
Christina Koch became the first women to participate in an all-female
spacewalk.
Photograph credit: Robert Markowitz