NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins speaks to members of the news media during a question-and-answer session Dec. 9, 2020, following a National Space Council meeting inside the Apollo/Saturn V Center at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Vice President Mike Pence chaired the meeting, at which he announced the initial team of 18 astronauts eligible for early Artemis missions on and around the Moon. A Colorado native, Watkins was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017. She was joined at the event by fellow astronauts Joseph Acaba, Matthew Dominick, Jessica Meir, and Anne McClain. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.