Vonetta Flowers
Credit: © Everett Collection, Shutterstock

Winter is a time for hockey, ice skating, skiing, sledding, and snowboarding. Have you ever heard of bobsledding? Bobsledding is a fast, dangerous winter sport in which teams of two or four persons ride down a steep, icy course in steel and fiberglass sleds. The sleds may reach speeds up to 90 miles (145 kilometers) per hour. The team with the fastest total time after either two or four runs wins the competition.

One famous bobsledder is Vonetta Flowers. Flowers is a former American Olympic bobsledder. In 2002, she became the first Black American to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympic Games. She tried bobsledding on a whim and took the sport quickly.

Vonetta Jeffrey was born on Oct. 29, 1973, in Birmingham, Alabama. She began running as a child. In high school, she was an all-star track and basketball athlete. Flowers was a seven-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-American in track at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She competed in several events, including the long jump, triple jump, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and relays. She married John Flowers, an American track coach and former track athlete, in 1999.

Vonetta Flowers won a gold medal in the long jump at the 1994 Olympic Festival. The festival was a U.S. national competition held between Olympic Games years. Flowers competed in the long jump at the 2000 Olympic trials but failed to qualify. While at the trials, Flowers’s husband saw a flyer for tryouts as a brakeman for bobsledding. In two-person bobsledding, the team includes a driver and a brakeman. The brakeman helps to push off at the beginning of the run and brakes the sled to a stop at the end of the run. As a trained track athlete, Flowers outperformed many competitors at the bobsled trials.

At the bobsled trials, Flowers met the American bobsledder Bonny Warner. In 2001, Flowers and Warner finished in the top 10 in all 7 World Cup races. However, Warner replaced Flowers with another brakeman. Flowers almost quit the sport before the American bobsledder Jill Bakken recruited her as brakeman.

In 2002, at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, Flowers and Bakken competed against Warner’s team, which was favored to win. Flowers and Bakken broke the course record on their first run and won the first-ever gold medal in women’s bobsled. Flowers retired from competition after the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. She began working as a track coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Flowers’ story inspires many to try a new sport or hobby. What would you like to try this year?

Ben N. Campbell was a member of the United States Senate from 1993 to 2005. Campbell, a Republican, represented Colorado. Before becoming a senator, Campbell had served in the Colorado House of Representatives and the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Senate

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Northern Cheyenne chief, was a member of the United States Senate from 1993 to 2005. He represented Colorado. When he was elected, Campbell became the first Native American person since the late 1920′s to hold a U.S. Senate seat. Charles Curtis, whose mother was part Native American, served in the Senate from 1907 to 1913 and again from 1915 to 1929. Campbell was elected as a Democrat. In 1995, he switched to the Republican Party.

As a senator, Campbell focused on such issues as water conservation and environmental preservation. He worked to protect Colorado’s water resources.

Campbell was born on April 13, 1933, in Auburn, California. His father was Northern Cheyenne, and his mother was of Portuguese descent. Campbell served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1953. He earned a bachelor’s degree from San José State University in 1957. He also attended Meiji University in Tokyo. Campbell became a judo expert and was a member of the U.S. judo team in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. During the late 1960′s and the 1970′s, he built a successful business as a jewelry designer and jewelry maker and became a resident of Colorado.

Campbell was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1982. He served from 1983 until 1986, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He won reelection to the U.S. House in 1988 and 1990. In 1992, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and he took office in 1993. He was reelected in 1998.

In 2004, Campbell announced that because of concerns about his health he would not seek reelection that year to the Senate. His final term as senator ended in January 2005.

Browns’ 1969 patent plan for an elaborate home security system suggests safety and relaxation can go hand in hand.
Credit: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Today many people have security systems installed in their houses. Security systems set off an alarm when someone breaks in and automatically call the police. Home security systems also connect to smoke alarms and call the fire department if there is a fire. Some people also have security cameras around the house. They can show us when we have a package at the front door or when a visitor is waiting outside. Newer models even let you open the door from your smartphone or smartwatch! Do you know about the woman who invented the first home security system?

Well, she did not work for the CIA, FBI, or Homeland Security. Marie Van Brittan Brown was a Black American nurse. She was born on Oct. 22, 1922, in the Queens borough (section) of New York City. She married Albert Brown, an electronics technician. She worked late hours as a nurse and was concerned about the slow response time of the police in her neighborhood. Brown created a home security system for their house and filed for a patent in 1966. Brown called her invention the “Home Security System Utilizing Television Surveillance.”

The system involved a camera that monitored four different areas, displaying surveillance footage on a television. The system also had a two-way microphone, a button to let visitors into the house, and a button that called the police. The patent was approved in 1969. However, Brown never found a manufacturer or marketed her invention. Brown died on Feb. 2, 1999, in Queens.

Young dancers participate in a Powwow on July 23, 2016, in Couer d’Alene, Idaho.
Credit: © Gregory Johnston, Shutterstock

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Across the country, people are gathering for powwows big and small to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Through dancing, traditional food and regalia, and other traditions, Indigenous communities celebrate their culture and community. For many communities, these will be the first large powwows held since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. The Choctaw Nation hosted one of the country’s largest and most well known powwows in Oklahoma earlier in the month. Some powwows honored Indigenous veterans on Veterans Day.

A powwow is a ceremony of dancing practiced by Indigenous (native) peoples of the United States and by First Nations, Indigenous peoples of Canada. The term powwow comes from the Algonquian word pau wau, meaning healer. The gathering lasts several days and includes dancing, drums, feasts, regalia (traditional attire), and singing. Powwows have their roots in traditional Indigenous religious ceremonies and meetings. Today, they may serve as a secular (nonreligious) and public celebration.

Indigenous American cultures included traditional dances and songs. However, many Indigenous ceremonies and traditions have been outlawed by white settlers at various times. In the United States, the Religious Crimes Code of 1883 prohibited ceremonial dances. The Indian Act, first passed in 1876, is the main Canadian law governing relations between the First Nations and the federal government. In 1884, the act was amended to ban ceremonies such as potlatches and certain dances. The potlatch is a ceremony of feasting and gift-giving practiced by indigenous peoples and First Nations of the Northwest Coast region.

In the late 1800’s, traveling “Wild West” shows became popular. Shows such as that presented by the frontiersman and entertainer Buffalo Bill offered an opportunity for Indigenous performers to make money for their tribes by performing outlawed songs and dances publicly.

The Religious Crimes Code was amended to allow Indigenous dances and songs in 1933. In 1951, Canada lifted the prohibition on dances and potlatches. The United States Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978 to guarantee the protection of Indigenous people under the First Amendment to the Constitution. These changes enabled powwows to flourish in the 1960’s and 1970’s, when they were held during the summer.

Smaller local powwows still occur on reservations (lands set aside for Indigenous use), but larger powwows may take place in stadiums and at casinos. Indigenous elders bless the grounds before the event begins through song, prayer, and the burning of sage or tobacco. The powwow grounds are usually laid out in a series of concentric circles (circles spreading from a common center). The area for dancing and drums lies in the middle. The space around the dancers is reserved for elders and friends and family of the dancers. Outside that circle, there is room for spectators and vendors. The vendors sell traditional and modern foods, crafts, art, and clothing.

Every powwow has an emcee, a master of ceremonies. The emcee is usually a leader in the community with knowledge of the traditional ceremonies along with a modern-style education. The emcee announces events, introduces dancers, and tells stories.

Powwows begin with the grand entry, an opening parade. This tradition was adopted from the Wild West shows as well as processions at treaty signings. In a giveaway ceremony on the last day of the powwow, gifts are given from the host to the visitors or in memory of someone who died. The ceremony begins with the hosts dancing and the emcee announcing those receiving gifts.

Dancing styles are differentiated in part by the regalia worn by performers. Competitive dances for men include the fancy, grass, northern, and straight dance styles. For women, competitive dancing styles include fancy shawl, jingle dress, northern and southern buckskin, and northern and southern cloth. Dancers compete for prize money. The dance competition is organized by dance style and by the age and gender of the performers.

Drums and singing accompany the dances. Singers may sing in the language of a specific tribe or in vocables, simple nonverbal syllables that are shared among tribes.

Powwows are held the year around in major cities across Canada and the United States. A powwow may include up to 800 dancers or more. Some traditional powwows focus only on the songs and dances. Others may include such activities as rodeos, fashion shows, and music competitions. The largest powwow is the Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which may include more than 3,000 dancers.

Louise Erdrich is an American author known for her fiction rooted in her Native American heritage. Erdrich’s mother was a Chippewa, and her father was German American. Many of her characters have mixed Native American and white backgrounds and deal with issues of cultural identity.
© ZUMA Press/Alamy Images

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Louise Erdrich is a Native American author. In June 2021, Erdrich won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her novel “The Night Watchman” published in 2020. She based the novel on her grandfather who was a council-member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. He fought the termination policy that went to Congress in 1953. The book weaves together a family story and the Chippewa efforts to preserve the tribe’s land and treaty rights in the mid 1900’s. The Sentence (2021), set in a bookstore in Minneapolis after the killing of George Floyd in 2020, is both a murder mystery and a ghost story.

The Game of Silence tells the story of a young Ojibwa girl during the mid-1800′s who sees her people and their way of life threatened when white settlers come to their land.
The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich. Text and illustration copyright © 2005 by Louise Erdrich. Reprinted by permission of Harper Collins Publishers.

Karen Louise Erdrich was born June 7, 1954, in Little Falls, Minnesota. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota where her parents taught at Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Many of her books reflect on her German American and Chippewa heritage and deal with issues of cultural identity. Erdrich’s books also draw on Native American culture, mythology, and storytelling traditions.

Erdrich earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 1976 and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1979. She has published 28 books and won the National Book Award in 2012 for her book “The Round House.” Erdrich owns Birchbark Books, an independent bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that focuses on Native American literature.

Indigenous peoples of the Americas: cultural areas
Credit: World Book map

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the first people who lived in North America or South America, and their descendants. Indigenous means original or native. Indigenous people had been living in the Americas for thousands of years before any Europeans arrived. They formed hundreds of tribes with many different ways of life.

Scholars called anthropologists, who study human culture, classify the hundreds of North American Indigenous tribes into groups of tribes with strong similarities. These groups are called culture areas. The culture areas of Canada and the United States are (1) the Arctic; (2) the Subarctic; (3) the Northeast, often called the Eastern Woodlands; (4) the Southeast; (5) the Plains; (6) the Northwest Coast; (7) California; (8) the Great Basin; (9) the Plateau; and (10) the Southwest.

Arctic cultural area
Credit: World Book map

Most Arctic peoples lived in small bands along the seacoast, moving often in search of food. Seals were the primary food. Sealskin was widely used for making shelters and boats, clothes, tools, and other goods. Arctic peoples adapted to the modern world while preserving much of their traditional way of life.

Subarctic cultural area”
Credit: World Book map

The Subarctic was thinly populated. Tribes consisted of small bands, related through marriage. Food was often scarce, and the people moved about hunting and gathering wild plants, berries, and nuts. Most Subarctic peoples live in areas set aside for them, called reserves in Canada and reservations in the United States.

Northeast cultural area
Credit: World Book map

In the Northeast, the Iroquois and most Algonquian groups lived mostly by growing corn, beans, and squash. Some of the northernmost groups depended more on hunting, gathering, and fishing. Many tribes now live in Oklahoma and various Western states. Many Iroquois became leaders in the struggle for the rights of Indigenous people in Canada and the United States.

Southeast cultural area
Credit: World Book map

The adequate rainfall and long growing season enabled Southeastern peoples to grow large quantities of corn. They traveled either on foot or in wooden dugout canoes. Women had much power and influence among most Southeastern groups. Today, Southeast tribes try to maintain a balance between traditional and modern ways of life.

Plains cultural area
Credit: World Book map

When the Spaniards brought the horse to the Plains in the 1600’s, a new way of life appeared. On horseback, the Plains peoples could follow the great herds of buffalo. Nearby tribes, and those forced westward by the advancing white people, quickly adopted the Plains way of life. Communication across tribes led to the development of the Plains sign language.

Northwest Coast cultural area
Credit: World Book map

Among tribes of the Northwest Coast, a few families had great influence in each village because of their ancestry and wealth. Totem poles, carved from tree trunks, became more common with the iron tools brought by the white traders. Totem poles showed the social rank and ancestry of a family or individual.

California cultural area
Credit: World Book map

Tribes in the California area consisted of one or a few villages of extended families. Acorns were the most important food. Women gathered acorns, washed them, and pounded them into flour. The women then cooked the flour to make acorn mush or bread. The Pomo were famous for their basket making.

Great Basin cultural area
Credit: World Book map

The tribes of the Great Basin consisted of many small bands. Each band had a home territory near a lake or a stream that provided a reliable supply of water and fish. Pine nuts were the most important single source of food. Today, many Indigenous people of the Great Basin live as ranchers and farmers.

Plateau cultural area
Credit: World Book map

The tribes living in the Plateau consisted of bands of extended families. During the summer, bands traveled their territory in search of food. In the winter, they lived in villages. Plateau peoples mainly ate wild bulbs and roots, berries, and salmon and other fish. Today, many Plateau peoples live on reserves or reservations.

Southwest cultural area
Credit: World Book map

The early peoples of the Southwest included several tribes. The Pueblo tribes had one of the most highly developed civilizations in North America. They were excellent craftworkers. Most Pueblo lived in villages and farmed along rivers that provided water for irrigation. The Navajo, a hunting and gathering tribe, are today one of the largest Indigenous groups in the United States. The Navajo have become noted for weaving blankets and rugs and making silver jewelry.

Zitkála-Šá, Indigenous American educator
Credit: Photograph by Gertrude Kasebier; Mina Turner, National Museum of American History/Smithsonian Institution

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

As a storyteller, teacher, playwright, politician, and violinist, Zitkála-Šá fought every boundary placed before her. Zitkála-Šá, also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was a member of the Yankton Sioux or Yankton Dakota. Born in 1876, she became an influential leader in the United States, fighting for women’s rights, the Indigenous right to citizenship and voting, and the end to the Indigenous boarding school system.

When Zitkála-Šá was about eight years old, she left the Yankton reservation to attend White’s Manual Labor Institute in Wabash, Indiana. She was required to cut her long hair and any trace of her culture. She learned to read, write, and play the violin. Zitkála-Šá did not return home until 1887. She received a scholarship to Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. Before she graduated, Zitkála-Šá began teaching music at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. A gifted musician, she studied violin at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1899. In 1900, Zitkála-Šá accepted an invitation to travel and play with the Carlisle school’s band across the United States and at the Paris Exposition, a world’s fair.

It wasn’t long until Zitkála-Šá started using her storytelling and writing skills against the Indigenous boarding school system that employed her. The Carlisle school sent Zitkála-Šá back to the Yankton Reservation in 1900 to gather more students. There, she found her community in poverty, with run-down houses and white settlers living on her people’s land. She returned to Carlisle and began writing about Indigenous life and culture. She translated Indigenous stories into English and Latin. She criticized the Indigenous American boarding school system in essays published in the magazines Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s Magazine. In 1901, she wrote the short story “The Soft-Hearted Sioux” about a student’s loss of identity and was fired from the Carlisle school.

She returned to the reservation and began writing stories for her collection of Sioux tales and legends, Old Indian Legends (1901), while working as a clerk for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) office at Standing Rock. In 1902, she married Captain Raymond Talesfase Bonnin. They moved to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah and had a son named Raymond Ohiya Bonnin in 1903.

Several years after moving to Utah, Zitkála-Šá picked up another medium. After befriending composer William F. Hanson, the pair wrote the first Indigenous American opera. Sun Dance (1913) was based on the then-outlawed Indigenous religious ceremony Sun dance.

After completing the play, Zitkála-Šá leaned more into her political work. She joined the Society of American Indians, which preserved Indigenous traditions while fighting for full U.S. citizenship. Zitkála-Šá lectured across the country about Indigenous culture and the right to be recognized as American citizens and to vote. Her American Indian Stories, a collection of essays on Indigenous treatment in America and in Christian boarding schools, was published in 1921.

Her efforts were partially rewarded when the Indian Citizenship Act passed in 1924. The act granted citizenship to Indigenous people, but poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence and intimidation were used to prevent many Indigenous people from voting. Of course, Zitkála-Šá and her husband continued to work for Indigenous rights and started the National Council of American Indians in 1926. She continued to work for the rights and cultural preservation of Indigenous people until her death. She died in Washington, D.C., on January 26, 1938. Zitkála-Šá is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

American basketball player A’ja Wilson
Credit: © Thurman James, CSM/Alamy Images

On Wednesday, October 18th, the Las Vegas Aces defeated the New York Liberty, 70 to 69, to clinch the best-of-five Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Finals, three games to one, at the Liberty’s home court the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Las Vegas Aces took home their second championship in a row, becoming the first WNBA team in 21 years to win the title consecutively. Finals MVP forward A’ja Wilson led the team while guard Chelsea Gray, center Kiah Stokes, and forward Candace Parker sat out due to injuries. Las Vegas became the first team in league history to win a playoff without multiple starters who played the previous game.

Australian center for the Aces Cayla George scored 11 points in 30 minutes. Regular season MVP New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart only scored 10 points in the entire game. Wilson played 39 of the 40-minute game, scoring 24 points and securing 16 rebounds.

Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon, helped the Aces meld their exceptional individual talents into a strong championship unit. Hammon had been an assistant coach with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and a seven-time All-Star in a 16 year WNBA career. Hammon secured star Candace Parker for the season. Although Parker was out on injury, she is now the first player in the WNBA to win three championships from three different teams after playing for the Los Angeles Sparks and the Chicago Sky.

The basketball teams met for Game 4 before a large Liberty home crowd. The score remained close throughout the game with the Liberty gaining a lead and the Aces catching up several times. The Aces gained momentum to control the game at the end of the third quarter, bringing the score to a tie at 51. With the Aces leading the game at 70 to 69, Liberty forward Breanna Stewart attempted a three-pointer at the last second but fell short.

American women’s basketball star Breanna Stewart
Credit: © Zach Bolinger, Icon Sportswire/AP Photo

The Aces’ Wilson was named Defensive Player of the Year. The All-WNBA Team included Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Alyssa Thomas who plays for the Connecticut Suns. Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston was named Rookie of the Year. The Connecticut Suns coach Stephanie White was named Coach of the Year.

Camilla Cabello performs for her ‘Never Be The Same Tour’ live at The Fillmore Detroit on April 25, 2018.
Credit: © Brandon Nagy, Shutterstock

People in the United States observe National Hispanic Heritage Month each year from September 15 to October 15. During this period, many Latin American countries celebrate their independence. These countries include Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

The latest princess to go from rags to riches in Cinderella (2021) is the Cuban American singer and songwriter Camila Cabello. Cabello creates pop music influenced by her Cuban and Mexican heritage. Cabello became known while she was a part of the all-female pop group Fifth Harmony. She now writes and performs her own songs, often addressing the immigrant experience in the United States.

Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao was born March 3, 1997, in Havana, Cuba. Her mother was a Cuban architect and her father worked a number of jobs, including construction while living in Mexico City, Mexico. Cabello and her mother traveled back and forth between Cuba and Mexico before moving to Miami, Florida. Her father later immigrated to the United States to join them. Cabello was shy growing up. She surprised her parents when she asked to audition for the television reality music competition program “The X Factor” in 2012.

Cabello auditioned in Greensboro, North Carolina for “The X Factor” and was listed as an alternate. She asked for another audition and then made it to the next round, which was a pre-season boot camp (intensive training session). At the boot camp in Miami, producers of the show grouped her with four other contestants: (1) Ally Brooke Hernandez, (2) Dinah Jane Hansen, (3) Lauren Jauregui, and (4) Normani Kordei. Later in the season, they formed Fifth Harmony. The group placed third on the show and landed record deals with its creator, the British record executive Simon Cowell, and Epic Records.

Fifth Harmony released its first EP Better Together in 2013 and its first album Reflection in 2015. EP stands for extended play and is a type of musical recording that includes several songs but is not considered a full-length album. Fifth Harmony’s “All in My Head (Flex),” featuring the American rapper Fetty Wap, was voted the song of the summer at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. Outside the group, Cabello began working with other artists such as the Canadian singer and songwriter Shawn Mendes and the American rapper Machine Gun Kelly. In 2016, Fifth Harmony announced via Twitter that Cabello was no longer in the group.

Cabello’s first single as a solo artist, “Havana,” featuring the American rapper Young Thug, was released in 2017. The single held the number one spot on Billboard magazine’s “US Pop Singles” chart for seven weeks. Cabello headlined for Bruno Mars on his 24k Magic Tour in 2017 and Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium tour in 2018. Cabello released her first solo album, Camila, in 2018. It reached number one on the “Billboard 200” chart. She later released the album Romance in 2019.

Cabello won MTV’s video of the year award in 2018 for “Havana” and in 2019 for “Senorita,” with Shawn Mendes. She also won the MTV Europe Music Awards for best song and best video with “Havana.” She received a Grammy nomination in 2019 for best pop solo performance for “Havana” and best pop vocal album for Camila. She received a nomination for best pop duo/group performance for “Senorita.” In 2022, Cabello was a coach on the singing-competition television show “The Voice.”

Nicole Aunapu Mann became the first Indigenous American woman in space in October 2022 aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the United States! Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrates and honors Indigenous Americans’ history and culture. On October 5, 2022, Mann became the first Indigenous (native) American woman in space. Nicole Aunapu Mann is an American astronaut and Marine Corps test pilot. Mann and three other astronauts launched on National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). While aboard the ISS, Mann will served as flight engineer. Mann and the crew safely landed back on Earth on March 11, 2023. Mann is a member of the Wailacki people of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. The Round Valley Indian Tribes is a confederation of tribes designated to the Round Valley Indian Reservation in Mendocino County, California.

In 2013, the NASA chose Mann to be an astronaut. Mann completed astronaut training in July 2015. She led the development of the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) launch facility, the Orion crewed spacecraft, and Space Launch System (SLS), built to carry the Orion craft into space. NASA selected Mann to serve as mission commander on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission on the Crew Dragon capsule en route to the International Space Station. SpaceX is a private company that owns and operates the rocket and spacecraft used in the mission. A Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch the mission’s Crew Dragon capsule.

Mann joined the United States Marine Corps in 1999 as a second lieutenant. She reported to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, for flight training in 2001. Mann became a Navy pilot in 2003 and began her operational flying career in 2004.  Mann deployed twice to Afghanistan and Iraq, completing 47 combat missions. After her deployments, she completed Navy Test Pilot School and served as a test pilot for many types of naval aircraft.

Nicole Victoria Aunapu was born in Petaluma, California, on June 27, 1977. She enrolled in the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1995. Mann earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1999. She completed a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from California’s Stanford University in 2001. In 2009, she married Navy pilot Travis Mann.