All articles tagged with #women astronauts
The article details how NASA's Space Shuttle program helped break gender barriers by including women astronauts like Sally Ride, highlighting the challenges they faced, such as sexist equipment and stereotypes, and celebrating their achievements in space exploration and diversity advancements.
Journalist Loren Grush chronicles the challenges faced by the first women astronauts in NASA, including Kathy Sullivan, who became the first woman to fly higher than any other woman in history. Sullivan also tested a new piece of equipment for relieving oneself in space, as the previous system was not suitable for women. NASA engineers developed the Disposable Absorption Containment Trunk (DACT), essentially a diaper, which became standard equipment for both men and women. Sullivan's experience in pressure suits and spacewalk training led her to pursue a flight assignment and the opportunity to go orbital.
Author Loren Grush's new book, "The Six: The Untold Stories of America's First Women Astronauts," explores the experiences of the six women who trained alongside Sally Ride in NASA's first coed astronaut class. The book reveals the sexist questions and pressures they faced, highlighting the progress made in gender equality in the space industry. The stories of these women serve as a timely reminder as NASA aims to send the first woman to the moon through its Artemis program, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and learning from the challenges faced by women in the past.
The first crewed mission to Mars should be all-female, not just for fairness but for practical reasons. Women require fewer resources, such as oxygen, food, and water, making them more efficient and capable crew members on long-duration missions away from Earth. Additionally, women are more cooperative and less hierarchical, which could be crucial on a Mars journey where the crew must live in close quarters for 2-3 years. An all-female team would require considerably less support and allow a smaller spacecraft, producing a considerable savings in cost.