Space exploration, in hopes of establishing new discoveries that lies on the vast universe and galaxy we live in, has been one of the most fascinating and amazing experience one can ever have. Space exploration is the ongoing discovery and exploration of Sky celestial structures in outer space by means of continuously evolving and growing space technology. While the study of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, the physical exploration of space is conducted both by unmanned robotic spacecraft|robotic probes.
There are a total of 563 explorations launched as of 2011 and only 59 or 10.47% were of female astronauts. Safe to say that space explorations were greatly dominated by men. Are women incapable of doing such things? Or men deserves the spot better?
Early this 2016, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that 50% of the Astronauts in training for the First Mission to Mars in 2030 is composed of females. It is a clear manifestation that NASA is starting to recognize the valuable contribution of women in doing and conducting Space Exploration Journeys.
It’s well established by now that women make kick-ass astronauts (Sally Ride and Valentina Tereshkova), so that statistic shouldn’t be particularly exciting or notable.But given the fact that, as of 2011, females still only hold 24 percent of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics jobs in the US, it’s a pretty huge deal, and it makes us even more hopeful about the future of Solar System exploration.
The class of is made up of eight recruits in total – Josh Cassada, Victor Glover, Tyler Hague, Christina Hammock, Nicole Aunapu Mann, Anne McClain, Jessica Meir, and Andrew Morgan – selected from a pool of around 6,100 applicants. That’s a fierce 0.0013 percent success rate.
The application process alone took 18 months of rigorous medical and psychological testing, and the recruits are now going through two years of training before they’ll officially join NASA’s 46 currently active astronauts.
But what’s really cool is that they’re the first class to be candidates for the mission to Mars. “If we go to Mars, we’ll be representing our entire species in a place we’ve never been before. To me it’s the highest thing a human being can achieve,” McClain said.
That training, as you can imagine, is pretty intense, with the candidates learning how to fly T-38 supersonic jets, practicing walking around underwater in spacesuit that weigh 181 kg (400 pounds), and surviving what’s called the vomit comet, which simulates weightlessness through freefall.
They’re also being taught a whole bunch of general survival skills that might help them cope with the myriad things that could go wrong on the Red Planet, where the average temperature is –55 degrees Celsius (–67 F), there are giant dust storms, and astronauts will constantly be bombarded with cancer-causing ionising radiation.
“It’s not like the Moon; that’s a three-day trip,” Jason Crusan, director of advanced exploration systems at NASA said. “When you go to Mars, you’re going. You can’t abort.”The journey itself will be about 56 million kilometres (25 million miles) one way, which will take between six to nine months. But the pay-off for any astronaut who makes the grade will be worth it, if only to be able to earn the title of one of the first humans to ever put a boot-print on the Red Planet.
“Mars can teach us so much about the past, present, and future of our own planet,” said Meir. “Trying to understand our place in the universe is what drives me more than anything.”
“From space, you can’t see borders. What you see is this lonely planet,” added Mccain. “Here we all are on it, so angry at one another. I wish more people could step back and see how small Earth is and how reliant we are on one another.”
We couldn’t agree more, and we can’t wait to see the talent that’s selected in the next class of astronauts, for which applications are still open. What a relief things have changed since the 1960s, when NASA wrote a rejection letter to a female hopeful astronaut. A clear view of the path towards gender equality in science and its discoveries.
By: Vanessa V. Nava | Teacher II | Limay National High School
