At 34, US astronaut Jessica Watkins has many years ahead of her at the US space agency NASA, and could very well be one of the first women to step foot on the Moon in the coming years, as a member of the Artemis team preparing for upcoming lunar missions. Missions to Mars are off in the future, but given that astronauts often work into their 50s, Watkins could conceivably have a shot. Either way is just fine, she says in a lengthy interview with AFP from her post on the International Space Station (ISS). "I certainly would be just absolutely thrilled to be able to be a part of the effort to go to another planetary surface, whether it be the Moon or Mars." SOUNDBITES