NASA and SpaceX Sends First Native American Woman To Orbit…
NASA and SpaceX launched their fifth joint spacecraft to the International Space Station yesterday, sending the first Native American woman into Earth’s orbit as NASA plans for its historic Artemis mission to send humans to the moon, and potentially Mars. Astronaut Nicole Mann—a member of the Wailacki people of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in California is a former U.S. fighter pilot served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is the first Native American person to enter space since John Herrington in 2002.
Native American communities prioritize traditional healing to treat mental health. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but there are likely only 200 to 300 Native American psychologists in the entire country, out of a population of several million people. The shortage of Native American mental health clinicians is both a professional and a personal issue for Mary Owen. “I’ve struggled with depression myself since high school,” said Owen, a Native American physician in Duluth and associate dean of Native health at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Over 100 vendors and information booths will be set up in the old arena – now called the Barnett Fieldhouse during the 34th annual Black Hills Pow wow this year. Grand entry begins at 7 PM tomorrow evening at the new Summit Arena of the Monument at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City. Pow wow organizers expect 20 thousand people over the 3 day event.
