Nicole Aunapu Mann

Nicole Victoria Aunapu Mann (born June 27, 1977) is a NASA astronaut from the class of 2013.

Mann is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps. Originally from Penngrove, California, she is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Stanford University and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Mann is an F/A 18 pilot and completed astronaut candidate training in July 2015.

Early life
Mann grew up in Penngrove, California, and attended Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, California. Her father told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that she didn't show much interest in space as a child, but decided during her junior year in high school that she would attend the U.S. Naval Academy after graduation.

Career
Mann graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1999 before earning a degree in mechanical engineering at Stanford University in 2001. She was awarded her Naval Aviator wings in 2002, and served two combat tours flying 47 combat missions in F/A-18s as a fighter pilot over Iraq, and Afghanistan. Mann went on to graduate from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 2009. When she was accepted to NASA's astronaut training she was stationed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland as an F/A-18 fighter jet pilot.

In 2013, she was one of eight candidates selected from more than 6,300 applicants to train as an astronaut for NASA. NASA has said that Mann could be one of the first astronauts sent on a mission to an asteroid, or to Mars.