Nicole Aunapu Mann set to be first Native American woman in space

What she's saying: "It's very exciting," Mann said in an interview with Indian Country Today about being the first Native American woman in space.

• "I think it's important that we communicate this to our community, so that other Native kids, if they thought maybe that this was not a possibility or to realize that some of those barriers that used to be there are really starting to get broken down," she said.
• Mann is an enrolled member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in Northern California, per Indian Country Today.

Details: NASA's SpaceX Crew-5 mission is the fifth rotational mission to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

• Mann is due to be joined by NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, according a statement from NASA.

Of note: Astronaut John Herrington was the first Native American in space in 2002.