NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 19: Astronaut Jeanette Epps poses as NASA rings the closing bell at NASDAQ on July 19, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images) NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps will make history next year when she becomes the first Black female astronaut to be a crew member of the International Space Station, the space agency announced on Tuesday.Epps, who has a doctorate in aerospace engineering and worked for the CIA as a technical intelligence officer for seven years prior to joining the astronaut corps in 2009, has been assigned to NASA Boeing Starliner-1."Epps will join NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition planned for a launch in 2021 to the orbiting space laboratory,".