Baldwin Native Commands Mission At International Space Station

BALDWIN, NY — A Baldwin woman is now leading NASA's SpaceX Crew-7's latest mission.

Commander Jasmin Moghbeli and three other astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday.

The group is expected to stay in space for six months.

Her passion for astronomy "grew over time," Moghbeli told "Patch AM" in May 2022. "I went to space camp as I got a little older."

When we spoke last year, the North Baldwin native expected to helm the mission before this summer.

Moghbeli, 40, who was raised in Baldwin, moved to the neighborhood for kindergarten and the family remained through her high school years.

Growing up on Long Island is where the seeds for her future were planted.

"If not earlier, definitely from sixth grade on. Anytime someone asked me what I wanted to do, that was it. I wanted to be an astronaut," she said.

Moghbeli, who is also the first Iranian-American female astronaut, was encouraged by her family.

"My grandparents were in the military in Iran actually," she said. "I remember my mom's dad when he came to visit telling me stories about his time in the Navy. It was something that really appealed to me."

While the four-person crew will live at the space station for a half-year, Moghbeli said everyone has to be a jack of all trades.

"You are everything for that station," she said. "You're your own doctor. You're the maintainers. You're the scientists."

The commander said learning about weightlessness lead to key research at the space station.

"But you also have to maintain the station and make the toilets [are] working, you're able to generate power and talk back with the ground."