Sally worked tirelessly to encourage children to see what excitement and wonder lay in the sciences, and her name is taught in schools worldwide. She blazed the trail, not just for her fellow female astronauts, but for women all over the world, showing that they could and should work as equals to men, both on and off the planet.
“There was absolutely no sense—through all the years of growing up—that there was any limit to what I could do or what I could pursue.”
Svetlana Savitskaya
PILOT
COSMONAUT
RUSSIA
BORN 1948 →
FIRST WOMAN SPACEWALKER
Svetlana always had flying in her blood. She loved the feeling of moving through the air at great height and speed and this thrill for adventure took her to flights way above the Earth.
In the early days of the space race the Soviet Union and the United States were locked in a battle to conquer the cosmos. Although the culture in the Soviet Union at the time saw a woman’s role as being in the home, the Soviets took tremendous pride in securing the historical first flights, including those by women, and went to great lengths to upstage the Americans. By 1978, the United States was ahead in the race with the achievements of the Apollo program and the Moon landings. Now they were including women among their crew, announcing Sally Ride as their first female astronaut.
In response the Soviet Union trained female cosmonauts of their own. Svetlana was a pilot and parachutist, had flown MiG aircraft and was the world aerobatic champion, so in their search for potential cosmonauts her expertise and daring were a perfect match. When the United States announced Sally Ride’s flight, the Soviet Union assigned Svetlana to a flight that was visiting Salyut 7 space station, which would launch before Sally did. As soon as she floated on board the station one of her crewmates joked that as a woman she should get in the kitchen. She coolly replied, “I thought you would be the one to fix us something to eat.” She was unflappable in the face of these sexist views and went about her duties with great skill, performing a number of scientific and medical experiments and proving herself a high-class cosmonaut.
Two years later, the Soviet Union again wanted to upstage the American space program so they sent the talented Svetlana on another mission. She became the first woman to venture outside the safety of her craft and make a spacewalk, launching herself into the unknown and testing important new tools.
Spacewalking, or Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA), is a very important part of living and working in space. Astronauts and cosmonauts need to be able to get outside to fix malfunctioning parts, to set up new experiments or to attach new modules to the space station. A spacewalk usually lasts six to eight hours and the spacesuits are mini-spacecraft, keeping them alive, protecting them from the extreme temperatures of space, providing air to breathe and communications equipment as they step into the void.
Svetlana’s achievements should never be diminished because of the Soviet state’s attitude toward women—they should instead be celebrated and are a reminder to all that women can achieve anything.
“Women go into space because they measure up to the job. They can do it.”
Nichelle Nichols
ACTRESS
USA
BORN 1932 →
INSPIRING WOMEN AND MINORITIES TO REACH FOR THE STARS
Nichelle Nichols is a sci-fi icon. She kicked down boundaries when playing the strong character of Lieutenant Uhura in the original 1960s series of Star Trek. She became a role model across the world, showing that black people could take leading parts on both stage and screen, sharing the first interracial kiss on TV and helping to portray a future world that was free from sexism and racism. What is less well known is that she also helped kick down the barriers to real-life space travel.
The first astronauts recruited in the United States were all white, male and mostly from the military. At a Star Trek convention in 1975, Nichelle heard the NASA Director of Sciences speak. She realized that the space program was not representative of the world at large, and she felt very strongly that astronauts should come from all walks of life. During a speech at the National Space Institute she made this point and NASA started to listen. Soon afterwards they asked her to help with their ongoing astronaut recruitment campaign, which, a few months in, still had very few applications from women and minority groups. Nichelle was determined to find the very best female and minority candidates for NASA and made it clear that if some of them weren’t selected, despite their eminently suitable qualifications, the world would know about it.
Nichelle didn’t just make a couple of videos; she immersed herself in the program, visiting specialist centers and going through parts of astronaut training, all so she could understand the skills and qualities needed to be an astronaut and communicate them to her audiences. At the same time, she visited schools and universities across the United States, who welcomed this sci-fi celebrity with open arms and then listened intently to her message that gender and race should be no barrier to space. Her perseverance paid off. The number of applications that NASA received from women and minorities soon soared and when they announced their new class of thirty-five astronauts in 1978, it included six women and four people from minority backgrounds.
Nichelle didn’t sit back and relax after the first success, though. She has continued to work closely with NASA to the present day, highlighting the amazing work that is done throughout the world of space. She also encourages all people, whatever their background, to boldly go where no one, man or woman, has gone before.
“Science is not a boy’s game, it’s not a girl’s game. It’s everyone’s game. It’s about where we are and where we’re going.”
Christa McAuliffe & Judy Resnik
TEACHER
ASTRONAUT
USA
1948 → 1986
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
ASTRONAUT
USA
1949 → 1986
THE CHALLENGER ACCIDENT
When the twenty-fifth Shuttle flight, STS-51-L, roared away from the launchpad on a bright and cold morning in 1986, much of the world considered spaceflight routine. The events that followed reminded everyone that this was not the case.
NASA’s fleet of Space Shuttles had been blasting into space every few weeks throughout 1985. On this occasion, children around the world had tuned in to see Christa McAuliffe head up to teach the first ever school lesson from space. She was accompanied on board Challenger by six other crewmates: the second American woman ever to fly to space, Judy Resnik, alongside Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Francis Scobee and Michael Smith.
Judy loved engineering. She refused to listen to those who thought women couldn’t be engineers and worked hard at everything she put her mind to, including math and playing the piano. Judy was one of the first female astronauts recruited by NASA, and the first Jewish woman in space, but labels weren’t important. What really mattered was to do her very best.
Christa wasn’t a professional astronaut but a history teacher who was picked by NASA from over ten thousand applicants to give lessons to hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren, live from the Space Shuttle. She had just six months of basic training before flying, compared to the initial year that astronauts must undertake before going on to specific mission training. Christa was really excited about this novel way of engaging students.
On the morning of January 28, 1986, in Florida, temperatures were hovering around freezing, which was the coldest weather that a Shuttle had ever been launched in. Some of the engineers said it wasn’t safe to fly, but the program managers decided to go ahead and the fate of the crew was sealed.
The Space Shuttle was propelled into space by three large engines, and two additional solid rocket boosters that were strapped to the sides. The cold weather had hardened the rubber seals on the boosters, so they didn’t bend properly as the Shuttle blasted off. Hot exhaust gas leaked out of a joint and just seventy-three seconds after liftoff the external
fuel tank exploded, tearing Challenger apart. All the crew were killed.
Space travel will always have risks. We honor Christa and Judy, and all the others who have lost their lives, by not giving up on the challenges of exploring space, building on their work, and opening up new and incredible opportunities for all of us on Earth.
“People whom you consider to be heroes are really quite like yourselves. Only hard work and perseverance will help you to succeed at any venture.”
JUDY RESNIK
“Reach for it. Push yourself as far as you can.”
CHRISTA McAULIFFE
Mae Jemison
DOCTOR
ASTRONAUT
USA
BORN 1956 →
FIRST BLACK WOMAN IN SPACE
Mae Jemison grew up in a whirlwind of creativity and imagination. Inspired by the Apollo missions and science fiction such as Star Trek, she always assumed she would go into space one day. She was a brilliant dancer, loved fashion design and art, but was also great at science so she studied medicine and became a doctor. When she had the chance to apply to be an astronaut, she decided to give it a shot. As she was making her application, it never crossed her mind that no black woman had ever been to space before. Mae was selected by NASA and spent eight days in space on STS-47 in September 1992.
During her mission Mae worked with a number of experiments, including producing the first noninsect babies conceived and hatched in space. She fertilized some frog’s eggs, and then observed as the spawn hatched into tadpoles, which grew in space and came back to Earth. She paid homage to one of her great inspirations, the actress and activist Nichelle Nichols, by starting each of her shifts calling down to Earth, “Hailing frequencies open,” Lieutenant Uhura’s famous line from Star Trek.
Mae wanted to use her platform as the first black woman in space to help inspire women of all races to be involved with science, helping to shape the development of the world. She left NASA and set up a foundation named in honor of her mother, Dorothy, to promote science and technology. She says that her parents were the best scientists she knew, because they were always asking questions. Mae also brought the worlds of space and sci-fi together when she appeared in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This made her the only real-life astronaut to have also served on the Starship Enterprise.
Continuing to be even more ambitious, Mae set up an initiative called 100 Year Starship. This encourages people to think big, and to nurture the giant leaps in knowledge that will enable humans to travel beyond our solar system to another star within the next hundred years. Such a project sounds like a crazy idea to some, but Mae looks back to when, in 1901, the idea of a person walking on the Moon seemed equally unthinkable, though by 1969 that is what had happened. Mae’s vision and ambition may turn out not to be science fiction.
BIG PLANS FOR HUMANKIND’S FUTURE IN THE STARS
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”
Helen Sharman
CHEMIST
ASTRONAUT
UNITED KINGDOM
BORN 1963 →
FIRST BRITISH PERSON IN SPACE
Helen Sharman describes herself as having a very ordinary upbringing, but one day, listening to the radio in the car, her life started to become rather extraordinary.
In June 1989, when she was a young chemist working in chocolate research, Helen was driving home from work when she heard an advertisement on the radio: “Astronaut wanted: no experience necessary. Must be physically fit, aged twenty-one to forty, practical, with a scientific degree and a proven ability to learn a foreign language.” “That’s me!” Helen thought, and scribbled the phone number on an old receipt.
A few weeks later, she nearly didn’t post the application form, thinking that she was far too ordinary and would never be chosen, so she was very surprised when she got a phone call and was offered a place in the selection process.
The mission was a commercial enterprise, with £16 million of funding to be paid to the Soviet Union, raised through sponsorship from British companies. The selection process was filmed for TV—with the ultimate prize of a trip to space. Helen undertook round after round of selection and lots of medical tests with a determined resolve, and eventually made it to the final four candidates. On a TV show filmed at London’s Science Museum it was announced that Helen and Tim Mace were the two going to the Soviet Union for eighteen months of training; one person would fly in space, the other would be the backup crew.
As Helen was going through her final grueling training, the project almost failed because of a lack of funding, but thankfully the Soviet Union took on the cost. In February 1991, just a few weeks before the launch, Helen was overjoyed to find out that she had been assigned to the mission and could hardly believe it was true. On a clear day in May 1991, the dream became a reality and she rocketed into space.
She spent eight days in space, visiting the Mir space station and carrying out lots of experiments, some on herself. She grew wheat and potato seedlings, took some snails and a lemon tree into orbit to see their response to space and spoke to schools using amateur radio.
Helen is the first British person ever to go to space, and the first woman to visit Mir. Helen believes that anyone can be an astronaut and that her “ordinary” qualities—good health, fitness, the ability to get on with other people and to work in a team—are among the best skills for the job. Helen has shown the world that we can all be extraordinary if we put our minds to it.
“Aim high! If you want to be an astronaut . . . get a lot of different experiences of all the things that life has to offer. Just enjoy living on planet Earth.”
Eileen Collins
PILOT
ASTRONAUT
USA
BORN 1956 →
TRAINING AIR FORCE PILOTS
Eileen Collins didn’t have a privileged upbringing—her family had been through some tough times—but she would read book after book about pilots from her local library. She dreamed of becoming a military pilot, even though she’d never set foot on an airplane, and saved money from evening and weekend jobs for flying lessons.
As soon as the US Air Force started accepting applications from women, Eileen applied to join and became an excellent pilot. When she started teaching other people to fly jets, she was the only female doing so in her squadron and was careful to do a great job to prove that women could be just as good as men. She did so well that she became only the second woman to graduate from the test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base.
Not long after she had started her training, her base was visited by newly selected astronauts, including the first female ones, and Eileen decided that she wanted to fly the Space Shuttle one day. So a few years later, when NASA announced they were recruiting more astronauts, she applied, and again her brilliant piloting skills were recognized and she was hired.
The Space Shuttle looked a bit like an airplane, but was more like a rocket-powered glider. It was launched with two big rocket boosters and three main engines. At the end of the mission, the Shuttle would fire its main engines once more to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere. From that point on it was a glider; there was no more power and it just used the wings and flaps to control its path as it flew S shapes through the air to slow down. Most gliders are lightweight with long wings, to provide as much lift as possible, but the Shuttle was heavy with a small delta wing so it was often known as a “flying brick.” The pilot had to be incredibly skilled as there was only one shot at landing—without power there was no chance to go around again.
In February 1995 the Space Shuttle Discovery roared into space, and for the first time ever there was a woman in the pilot’s seat—Eileen. The flight was the first Shuttle mission to rendezvous with the Mir space station and she piloted it with exemplary skill and precision. In July 1999, Eileen became the first, and only, woman to take command of a Shuttle mission. Her three-year-old daughter, Bridget, thought that all moms flew spacecraft. Eileen has shown th
e world that one day many more will.
FIRST FEMALE SHUTTLE PILOT AND COMMANDER
“Don’t miss the opportunities. Be on the lookout for them.”
Chiaki Mukai
DOCTOR
ASTRONAUT
JAPAN
BORN 1952 →
HOW DOES SPACE AFFECT THE HUMAN BODY?
Chiaki Mukai was determined to become a doctor. She had seen her brother, who had brittle bones in his legs, suffer and struggle to walk and she wanted to be able to help others like him. Chiaki chased her ambitions and qualified as a doctor. She has spent her life working to help others, but much of her research has happened in places she did not expect.
One day she was reading the newspaper after a night shift at the hospital when she saw that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, were looking for astronauts to fly on their Shuttle. Chiaki shouted out loud, “Can someone from Japan actually fly in space?” She thought all astronauts had to be American or Russian and did not know that Japan even had a space agency. Nevertheless, the idea intrigued her and the more she thought about it, the more she wondered what the possibilities of space might offer to her medical research, so she applied.
Chiaki was one of the first three Japanese astronauts selected in 1985 and the only woman. On her first flight, STS-65, in 1994, she put her medical expertise to great use, investigating how the human body responds to time in microgravity. She also researched how space affects aquatic life-forms, performing experiments on Japanese killifish and fire belly newts.
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