Exploring Attitudes Towards Women in Space

Women in Space

Today, June 18th, marks the anniversary of the first American woman to travel to space. Sally Ride travelled aboard Challenger in 1983. 
Sally was the third woman to travel to space. She was preceded by Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova just over 20 years beforehand. Tereshkova was the first woman to travel to space (June 16th, 1963) and remains the only woman to have completed a solo mission.

 

 

Svetlana Savitsakaya, a fellow Russian, was next. She set forth on her mission on August 19th, 1982.

 

 

 

Although Tereshkova had demonstrated women could successfully handle space travel, attitudes towards women progressed little in the following 20 years.

 

Indeed, a male cosmonaut asked Savitsakaya if she had packed her apron. Prior to Ride’s mission, journalists were concerned as to what makeup she would bring, whether she was concerned about the bathroom facilities and was once asked if she cried when there were malfunctions in the flight simulator. 

 

 

 

Listen to Sally Ride speak about the frustrating questions from the press here.

 

Explore her experiences further here:

• History.com: When Sally Ride Took Her First Space Flight, Sexism Was the Norm

 

It is interesting to discuss with pupils the extent to which they feel attitudes such as this persist to this day. Speaking in 2002, Ride commented, “It’ll be a wonderful day when this isn’t news.” Have we stepped closer to that day in the years since?

Recent headlines would suggest that space travel remains quite a male-centred world. Although, Christina Koch recently broke the record (on December 28, 2019) for longest continuous time in space by a woman, her mission having been extended in order to study the physical, biological, and mental effects of long-term space travel on women, the plan for the first all-female spacewalk during that trip almost had to be abandoned as NASA did not have 2 spacesuits that were the right size to fit the 2 female astronauts. A storm ensued on social media when this same to light with many questions raised about the risks to women in having to do their “job in equipment that was built to accommodate men’s bodies. Thankfully, NASA were later able to reconfigure a second suit and an all-female walk did take place. On October 18, 2019, Koch and Jessica Meir were the first women to participate in this all-female spacewalk.  

 

 

You may wish to explore whether your child would like to travel to space and why/why not.

 

 

Does your child have any questions about space?

• This Sally Ride Interview with Scholastic from 1998 may answer other questions children may have about space travel.

 

Here are some additional resources on the topic of space:

• Space Facts

• More Space Facts

• European Space Agency

• NASA

• Science Kids: Space Lesson Plans

• TeAchnology: Space and Astronomy Lesson Plans

• Geology.com: Astronomy and Space Classroom Activities and Lesson Plans

 

Here’s hoping you think this post is out of this world! 🤣 Get more space puns and jokes here.

 

Take care & stay safe!