Only 11% of astronauts are female, and in space engineering that number seems even worse. This blog is dedicated to put the Women in Space in the spotlight to educate and inspire a new generation.
Previously known as F Yeah! Female Astronauts.
Meet Sophie Adenot, one of the new ESA career Astronauts. Born in 1982 in France, she seems to have done everything right to get in this position. After studying spacecraft dynamics in France, she did a master of science at MIT specifically on centrifuge training for astronauts.
Right after she joined the France Air Force to become a helicopter pilot. In this role she worked as search and rescue pilot, formation flight leader, team captain and as experimental test pilot.
Sophie has received multiple distinctions for her work as young leader and her outreach for gender equality.
Meet Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the Artemis 1 launch director. Charlie is the first female launch director at NASA and is overseeing the launches that will bring women to the moon.
As a child she already looked up to the Saturn V launches, but she never considered an engineering career until her high school teacher encouraged her. After studying computer engineering, she visited the control room for the first time at a job interview, and she knew she wanted to work there.
She didn't start at NASA immediately, but started working at Boeing in 1988. In 2004 she made the move to NASA to work on the Space Shuttle program. In 2016 she became launch director, the first woman in that position.
Now Live: Artemis I launch with Astronaut Kayla Barron.
Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone to send astronauts to Mars.
Get ready for the announcement of new European astronauts on the 23rd of November. Will there be more ESA women in space beside Samantha Cristoforetti? Will we see a diverse group that reflects the people from the continent?
On April 24, 2017, NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson established the new record for the most time spent in space by an American astronaut. She’s spent more than 76 weeks of her life floating in microgravity! It’s not the first time in her career at NASA that Whitson has established new milestones: here are just a few.
First NASA Science Officer
Peggy Whitson was the named the first NASA Science Officer aboard the space station in 2002. The position was created to work with the United States research community to understand and meet the requirements and objectives of each space station experiment.
First Female to Command the Space Station… Twice
Whitson became the first female to command the space station during Expedition 16 in 2008. Then Whitson became the first female to command the station twice during her current mission on April 9, 2017.
First Female Chief of the Astronaut Office
In 2009, Whitson became the first female and first non-pilot to achieve the most senior position for active astronauts, Chief of the Astronaut Office.
Most Spacewalks for a Female
On March 30, 2017, Peggy Whitson broke the record for most spacewalks and most time spent spacewalking for female astronauts. Suni Williams had previously held the record at 7 spacewalks.
Most Time In Space By A NASA Astronaut
At 1:27 a.m. ET on April 24, Peggy Whitson set the new record for cumulative time spent in space by an American astronaut. Jeff Williams previously set the record in 2016.
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Expedition 50 launches to the space station at 3:20pm EDT today. The three-person crew consists of American astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and European astronaut Thomas Pesquet. The trio will arrive at the International Space Station Saturday morning.
Watch the launch live here on NASA television.
P/C:NASA
Happy 60th Birthday to Mae Jemison, the First African-American Woman in Space!
Mission Specialist (MS) Mae Jemison poses in Spacelab-Japan (SLJ).
File Unit: STS-47, 4/12/1981 - 7/21/2011. Series: Mission Photographs Taken During the Space Shuttle Program , 4/12/1981 - 7/21/2011. Record Group 255: Records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1903 - 2006
Born on October 17, 1956, Dr. Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman in space during @nasa‘s mission STS-47 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.
Hi. I've followed your blog for a while now, and as a young woman studying to be an aerospace engineer, this blog means a lot to me and regularly inspires me. I’m not surprised by the blind attitude given by this recent commentator-which had nothing to do with the original post. But it just further shows why support for equality is needed. Thank you for handling that post so wonderfully.