Jessica Meir

Early life and career

Her father, born in Baghdad in 1925, moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1931 and later studied medicine at the American University of Beirut; during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he drove an ambulance in Israel, then completed his medical degree at the University of Geneva. He met Jessica's mother, a Christian nurse from Västerås, while practicing in Sweden. She identifies as culturally Jewish, attended synagogue, and had a bat mitzvah. Inspired by Space Shuttle missions on television, she attended a youth space camp at Purdue University at age 13.

Meir earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Brown University in 1999, magna cum laude, after a semester at Stockholm University and a student experiment on a NASA reduced gravity aircraft. She received a Master of Space Studies from the International Space University in 2000 and a Ph.D. in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2009, studying the diving physiology of emperor penguins and northern elephant seals. Her field work included scuba diving alongside emperor penguins under Antarctic ice at Penguin Ranch on McMurdo Sound.

NASA career

After her master's degree, Meir worked from 2000 to 2003 for Lockheed Martin Space Operations as an experiment support scientist for the Human Research Facility at NASA Johnson Space Center. She coordinated and supported human space life science experiments on Space Shuttle and ISS missions, including studies of bone loss, muscle control and atrophy, and lung function. She guided experiments through review cycles, developed astronaut procedures, trained crew members, and provided ground support in Mission Control.

In September 2002, Meir served as an aquanaut on the joint NASA-NOAA NEEMO 4 expedition, spending five days saturation diving from the Aquarius undersea laboratory off Key Largo as a space analogue. The mission was delayed by Hurricane Isadore and shortened to five days; three days in, Tropical Storm Lili threatened an early departure but degenerated, allowing the crew to remain. At that time, Meir was considering a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology or life in extreme environments, and she later earned her doctorate in marine biology from Scripps in 2009.

She was a semi-finalist for NASA Astronaut Group 20 in 2009 and was selected for Astronaut Group 21 in June 2013, completing training in July 2015.

Personal life

Meir played woodwind instruments in her youth and enjoys classical literature, recreational cycling, hiking, running, skiing, soccer, and scuba diving. She holds a private pilot's license and speaks English, Russian, and Swedish. Through her mother, she holds Swedish citizenship and is the first Swedish woman in space.

Among personal items she brought to the ISS were an Israeli flag and novelty socks with Stars of David and menorahs. Most of her father's relatives live in Israel; she visited Israel as a teenager and again in 2016 for work. On International Women's Day in 2023, Meir announced the birth of her first child, a girl, with partner Duke Brady, an artist and biologist who appeared on Naked and Afraid.