Anna Kikina was part of the 2022 Crew-5, a NASA and SpaceX mission part of the Commercial Crew Program. She traveled on the Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft alongside fellow crew members, including Japan's Koichi Wakata and NASA astronauts Nicole Aunapu Mann, the first Native American woman in space, and Josh Cassada, to the ISS to conduct scientific investigations and station maintenance. The Crew-5 mission successfully returned to Earth after spending five months aboard the ISS.

Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who inspired the 1965 Barbie Miss Astronaut, was the first woman in space, having traveled into orbit on June 16, 1963. The last Russian woman to fly to space prior to Kikina, who also inspired a Barbie in her likeness, was Elena Serova, who spent 167 days aboard the ISS from September 2014 to March 2015. Additionally, in October 2021, Russia sent actress Yulia Peresild to space, where she spent 12 days on the ISS filming scenes for a movie.