Long Island's astronaut: Baldwin's Jasmin Moghbeli to command mission to International Space Station

Jasmin Moghbeli, of Baldwin, will serve as commander on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the ISS.

Brian Heyman

•

May 4, 2022, 7:29 PM

•

Updated 721 days ago

Share:

A NASA astronaut from Baldwin will command a mission to the International Space Station next year.

Jasmin Moghbeli, 38, will serve as commander on NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the ISS. NASA says the mission is expected to launch "no earlier than 2023."

It will be Moghbeli's first space flight.

Moghbeli was born in Germany but considers Baldwin her home. She graduated from Baldwin Senior High School before studying at MIT and the Naval Postgraduate School. She served in Afghanistan with the Marines.

Moghbeli was selected to be a part of the 2017 astronaut class.

The 2017 NASA Astronaut Class at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. From left are Zena Cardman, Jasmin Moghbeli, Jonny Kim, Frank Rubio, Matthew Dominick, Warren Hoburg, Robb Kulin, Kayla Barron, Bob Hines, Raji Chari, Loral O' Hara and Jessica Watkins. (Robert Markowitz/NASA via AP)

Moghbeli was announced as a member of the Artemis program, which has a goal to return astronauts to the moon this decade.

Moghbeli said in a 2017 video for NASA that she had wanted to be an astronaut since she was a kid, sharing the story of how in sixth grade she did a book report on Valentina Tereshkova - the first female in space. She dressed up like Tereshkova.

A young Moghbeli as Valentina Tereshkova (Photo: NASA)

"It just kind of has always been in the background something I've wanted to do that's somewhat driven my path in life," she said of being an astronaut.