Are women better astronauts than men? This space will become the center for the selection of crews to the Moon, Mars and beyond, as we have undertaken the colonization of space.
In the struggle for gender equality, women have already proven that they are capable of doing anything – including conquering space, showing that even the sky is not the limit of their success.
[Read: Meet Alyssa Carson, the 18-year-old training to become the first human on Mars]
“The first All-Woman spacewalk on the International Space Station was launched in October 2019 and many other goals have been achieved by women astronauts. But the first woman on the moon (or on Mars) is still there, ”writes Katharina Buchols for Statista.
First lady in space
Valentina Vladimirov’s Tereshkova was born in 1937 in Russia. At age 18, while working in a textile factory, he designed a parachute to support his love of skydiving.
In the early 1960s, Soviet and American space programs were engaged in trying to advance their opponents, reaching every space exploration goal. Fighting to defeat the United States in sending the first woman into space, Soviet officials chose Tereshkova to become the first woman in space.
Tereshkova was launched into space on the morning of June 16, 1963, in space 6 stock. After 3 days, Vostok returned to the atmosphere, after exiting at 20,000 feet, Tereshkova successfully parachuted to Earth. (This was the norm for cosmonauts at the time).
“After the historic space flight, Valentina Tereshkova received the Lenin and Soviet Union Award Hero … In 1966, Tereshkova became a member of the Supreme Soviet, the National Parliament of the USSR, and she served as a Soviet representative to numerous international women. Organizations and events. It never entered space again, and it was not until the 1980s that the final flight into space was made by a female cosmonaut. “ History Channel reports.
However women have been successfully trained as American astronauts In the 1960s, U.S. Took 15 years to fully accept women in his astronaut corps. In 1978, NASA sent six women to the U.S. Allowed to be the first female astronaut of the space program.
One of them was Sally Ride, a physicist who became part of the STS-7 crew on April 30, 1982, serving as a mission specialist. She was also the first American woman astronaut to return to space for the second time in 1984.
“Ride made history again when she became the second American woman to fly in space on October 5, 1984, on the shuttle mission STS-4G, where she was part of a seven-member crew that spent eight days in space. , Mission expert Catherine D. Sullivan was also part of the crew that made NASA’s first flight with two women (Sullivan became the American woman who flew in space during the mission),
History Channel reports.
Since then, more than 59 women have flown into space, including astronauts, astronauts, payload specialists, and foreign nationals, and many other women. Astronauts Now their first flight is about to take off from Earth.
Despite tremendous progress, since Sally Ride took her first flight, 80% of the astronauts are still men. The 2013 class of incoming astronauts was the first to reach the 50/50 section of women to men.
The benefits of flying female astronauts
There are several reasons why women suggest it Astronauts Can perform better than men in some respects, including:
- Women are lighter: Sending excess weight into space requires fuel, which costs a lot of money. Having more women on the crew can help reduce the cost of space travel.
- Women eat fewer calories and consume fewer resources: When you plan to send men On Mars, it would be a good idea to have more women on the crew as they need 15 to 25% fewer energy calories than men. They have lower expenditures despite having similar activity levels. In addition, because women (on average) are less than men, they produce less waste (CO2 and body emissions), making spacecraft systems easier to recycle.
- Space travel affects men and women differently: Due to the effects of microgravity and radiation, space travel can have many effects Astronaut health. It seems that men are less affected by space motion sickness than women, but men experience less hearing. Men are also at higher risk of vision problems, while women are more at risk of urinary tract infections.
- Women can give birth: An idea for Long-term colonization of space It is to send an all-woman crew to Mars or other colonies. This will reduce the cost of travel, as a woman-to-be crew to re-produce over time by artificial means.
“More significantly, men have problems with impaired vision, which women do not experience often or seriously. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly – who has spent 2030 days in space and has an eye problem to prove it – jokingly wrote in his autobiography that if scientists can’t find the cause of these eye problems, we should just send an all-woman crew to Mars. , ” Nadia Drake Writes for National Geographic.
Women have already proven to be great astronauts. However, not enough studies have been done to draw any conclusions yet Women Most of the first colonists in space – or all – should be made.
This article was originally published Cosmic Companion Dr .. by Anna Luisa Dias and James Maynard. You can read this original part here.
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