Women in Space

You gotta love Tina Fey. Last night on SNL, she did the woman’s report thing on the news (as well as starred in almost every sketch). She said (rough quote):

“It’s a great time to be a lady. There’s a lady Secretary of State. Lady Speaker of the House…And did you know there’s four women in space?  And the real sign of progress . . . no one cares. Twenty years ago that would only happen in a porn movie.”

It’s funny cuz it’s true.

(In case you don’t know what she’s talking about, check out this article: Discovery shuttle launch sets record for most women in space .) Yes, there are a record four women in space right now. Three launched on Shuttle Discovery last week,  joining the fourth already on the space station. And, I don’t recall seeing too much coverage of it at all. In fact, I think Tiger Woods got far more press.

“So?” you may ask. Surely twenty years ago–which was 1990–all sorts of women were zooming around on Space Shuttles. Not so much.  Do you know when the first American woman launched into space? 1983. (The first woman ever in space was cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963.) On June 18, 1983,  a mere 27 years ago, Sally Ride launched aboard Challenger (STS-7 ) as a mission specialist.  The first woman Shuttle Commander didn’t sit on the launch pad until 16 years later.  On July 23, 1999, Eileen Collins commanded Columbia (STS-93) as it lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center.   (By the way, the STS number is the mission number, which is roughly indicative of how many Shuttle flights have occurred since the first Shuttle launch in 1981.)

Collins also enjoys the distinction of being the first woman to pilot a Space Shuttle, which happened 4 years earlier. On February 3, 1995,  Collins was the pilot for  Discovery (STS-63).  I remember this launch (as well as the others) in particular. It brought to my attention a piece of semi-secret history. A very special group of women came to KSC to see Lt. Col. Collins off that day.  Seven of the original Mercury 13.

Remember the movie The Right Stuff? The astronaut candidates go through a series of grueling tests in New Mexico to pick the first American astronauts, the Mercury 7.  That was 1959. Well, when the US government got wind later that the Soviets were prepping a woman to go into space, NASA secretly evaluated a few dozen women–all pilots–and subjected them to same tests as the male candidates between 1960-1.  Thirteen women passed the tests.  We could have had the first American woman in space way back in the early ’60’s.   However, after Tereshkova went up on Vostok 6 on June 16 1963, NASA discontinued the program.  (There’s a lot more to the story, which I may write about later.) It took nearly 30 years for the US to put a woman in space.

Now we have four up there, and no one seems to care. I guess that is a sign of progress. Maybe.

Enjoy: