Orbiter.ch Space News: Celebrating Women’s History Month: Most Recent Female Astronauts

mercredi 3 mars 2021

Celebrating Women’s History Month: Most Recent Female Astronauts

ISS - International Space Station patch.

Mar 3, 2021

For Women’s History Month, NASA and the International Space Station celebrate the women who conduct science aboard the orbiting lab.

As of March 2021, 65 women have flown in space, including cosmonauts, astronauts, payload specialists, and space station participants. The first woman in space was Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who flew on Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963. The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, flew aboard the Space Shuttle STS-7 in June of 1983.

Other notable firsts:

- Roscosmos cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman to participate in a spacewalk on July 25, 1984.

- NASA astronaut Mae Jemison flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavour's STS-47 mission in 1992, becoming the first black woman in space.

- NASA astronaut Susan Helms was the first female crew member aboard the space station, a member of Expedition 2 from March to August 2001.

- NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson was the first female ISS Commander, starting April 2008, during a six-month tour of duty on Expedition 16.

- The most women in space at one time (four) happened in 2010, when space shuttle Discovery visited the space station for the STS-131 mission. Discovery’s crew of seven included NASA astronauts Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger and Stephanie Wilson and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Naoko Yamazaki. The space station crew of six included NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson.

- Susan Helms shares the record for longest single spacewalk, totaling 8 hours 56 minutes, with fellow NASA astronaut Jim Voss.

- Expedition 24 marked a first with two women, NASA astronauts Shannon Walker and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, assigned to a space station mission from April to September 2010.

- The 2013 astronaut class was the first with equal numbers of women and men.

- NASA astronaut Anne McClain became the first woman to live aboard the space station as part of two different crews with other women: Serena Auñón-Chancellor in 2018 and Christina Koch in 2019.

- NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch completed the first all-female spacewalk in October 2019. They conducted two more spacewalks together in 2020.

Women have participated in scientific research on the space station since 2001 and have become an integral part of advances in the program. The second crew launch under the Commercial Crew Program, currently scheduled for no earlier than Tuesday, April 20, 2021, includes NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, shown here in Johnson Space Center’s Bldg. 5 Motion Based Simulator. McArthur holds a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of California, San Diego, where she conducted research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She flew aboard space shuttle mission STS-125, which improved capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope, still operating today.

Here are more highlights from the scientific work conducted by women on the space station:

1. Shannon Walker, Expedition 24/25, 63/64

On Nov. 15, 2020, NASA astronaut Shannon Walker launched to the space station aboard a SpaceX Dragon as part of the first crew under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. In this image, she works on the BioNutrients study, exploring ways to produce vitamins and other nutrients to enhance the crew’s diet in space. In 2010, Walker spent 163 days in space as part of Expedition 24/25. Walker has a bachelor’s degree in physics and a Master of Science degree and a Ph.D. in space physics from Rice University. She began working in the space station program in the area of robotics integration, worked on avionics integration and on-orbit integrated problem solving for the space station in Russia, and served as deputy then acting manager of the On-Orbit Engineering Office at NASA prior to selection as an astronaut candidate.

2. Kate Rubins, Expeditions 48/49, 63/64

After spending three months aboard the space station in 2016, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins returned in October 2020. On her first flight, Rubins successfully sequenced DNA in microgravity for the first time as part of the Biomolecule Sequencer experiment. She continues that work on her current mission and is shown here working on an experiment that uses sequencing as a tool to diagnose medical conditions and identify microbes. Rubins received a degree in molecular biology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in cancer biology from Stanford University Medical School, then headed a research lab studying viral diseases in Africa, traveling there to conduct research and supervise study sites.

3. Jessica Meir, Expedition 61, 62

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir launched to the space station in Sept. 2019, returning to Earth in April 2020. In Oct. 2019, she completed the first all-female spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch; the duo conducted two more spacewalks together in 2020. Meir holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Brown University, a master’s degree in space studies from the International Space University, and a doctorate in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. In this photo, Meir waters the plant pillows of Mizuna mustards greens aboard the space station as part of the Veg-04B experiment. This study is part of a phased research project to address the need to produce fresh food in space and focuses on the effects of light quality and fertilizer on a leafy crop.

4. Christina Koch, Expedition 59, 60, 61

NASA astronaut Christina Koch spent 328 consecutive days in microgravity in 2019 and 2020, setting the record for the longest duration in space for a woman during a single mission. During that time, she worked on hundreds of experiments, including studies of protein crystals and plants in space. She participated in a number of studies to support future exploration missions, including research into how the human body adjusts to weightlessness, isolation, radiation, and the stress of long-duration spaceflight. Koch earned bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and physics and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics. There she contributed to scientific instruments on several missions studying cosmology and astrophysics. Koch served as station chief of the American Samoa Observatory and has contributed to the development of instruments used to study radiation particles for the Juno mission and the Van Allen Probe.

5. Anne McClain, Expedition 57/58, 59

During her first spaceflight from Dec. 2018 to June 2019, NASA astronaut Anne McClain collects samples for Marrow, a long-term investigation into the negative effects of microgravity on the bone marrow and blood cells it produces. The investigation may lead to the development of strategies to help prevent these effects in future space explorers as well as for people on Earth who experience prolonged bed rest. A native of Spokane, Washington, McClain earned master’s degrees in aerospace engineering and international relations. She holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as an Army Aviator, with more than 2,000 flight hours in 20 different aircraft.

6. Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, Expedition 56/57

NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor conducts research operations for the AngieX Cancer Therapy investigation inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). This research may facilitate a cost-effective drug testing method and help develop safer and more effective vascular-targeted treatments. She spent 197 days in space during her first space mission from June to December 2018. As a NASA Flight Surgeon, Auñón-Chancellor spent more than nine months in Russia supporting medical operations for International Space Station crew members. She has a degree in electrical engineering from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and a doctorate of medicine from The University of Texas - Health Science Center at Houston and is board certified in Internal and Aerospace Medicine.

7. Peggy Whitson, Expeditions 5, 16, 50, 51/52

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson holds numerous spaceflight records accumulated during her three long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station, including the U.S. record for cumulative time in space – 665 days. She has tied the record for the most spacewalks for any U.S. astronaut and holds the record for the most spacewalk time for female space travelers. She also served as the first science officer aboard the space station, the first female commander of the space station, and the first woman to be station commander on two different missions. During her time on Earth, she also is the only woman to serve as chief of the astronaut office. Whitson earned a bachelor of science in biology/chemistry from Iowa Wesleyan College and a doctorate in biochemistry from Rice University. In this photo, she works on the Genes in Space-3 experiment, which completed the first-ever sample-to-sequence process entirely aboard the International Space Station. This innovation makes it possible to identify microbes in real time without having to send samples back to Earth, a revolutionary step for microbiology and space exploration.

8. Samantha Cristoforetti, Expedition 42/43

The first Italian woman in space, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti conducts the SPHERES-Vertigo investigation in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). The investigation uses free-flying satellites to demonstrate and test technologies for visual inspection and navigation in a complex environment. During her first mission from November 2014 to June 2015, Cristoforetti set the single-mission duration record (199 days) for all ESA astronauts. Cristoforetti has been assigned a second mission to the International Space Station. She is currently in training for this mission, which is scheduled for 2022. Cristoforetti recently participated in the Curious Universe podcast, talking about scientific investigations on the space station. She holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Technische Universität, Munich, Germany, writing her thesis on solid rocket propellants during a 10-month research stay at the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology in Moscow, Russia. She also completed a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical sciences at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.

9. Elena Serova, Expedition 41/42

Cosmonaut Elena Serova, the first Russian woman to visit the space station on a flight from September 2014 to March 2015, works with the bioscience experiment ASEPTIC in the Russian Glavboks (Glovebox). The investigation assessed the reliability and efficiency of methods and equipment for assuring aseptic or sterile conditions for biological investigations performed on the space station. She graduated from the aerospace department of the Moscow Aviation Institute as a test engineer, Moscow State Academy of Instrument-Making and information as an economist, and completed a postgraduate course at the Energia Rocket Space Corporation.

10. Karen Nyberg, STS-124, Expedition 36/37

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg sets up the Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) fluorescence microscope in the space station’s Kibo laboratory during her second spaceflight aboard the space station. The MSPR has two workspaces and a table used for a wide variety of microgravity science investigations and educational activities. During her first spaceflight in 2008 aboard space shuttle Discovery delivering the Japanese Experiment Module to the station, she became the 50th woman in space. The Minnesota native earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of North Dakota and a master of science and doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Her graduate research investigated human thermoregulation and experimental metabolic testing and control, specifically related to the thermal control in space suits.

11. Sunita Williams, Expeditions 14/15, 32/33

This spacewalk by NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Aki Hoshide, reflected in Williams’ helmet visor, lasted six hours and 28 minutes, during her second long-duration spaceflight in 2012. They completed installation of a main bus switching unit (MBSU) and installed a camera on the International Space Station’s robotic Canadarm2. Williams participated in seven spacewalks and was the second woman ever to be commander of the space station. She also is the only person ever to have run a marathon while in space. She flew in both the space shuttle and Soyuz, and her next assignment is to fly a new spacecraft: the Boeing CST-100 Starliner during its first operational mission for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Williams earned a bachelor’s degree in physical science from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master of science in engineering management at Florida Institute of Technology. As a naval aviator, she logged more than 3,000 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft.

12. Cady Coleman, Expeditions 26/27

Working on the Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE), NASA astronaut Catherine (Cady) Coleman performs a Corner Flow 2 (ICF-2) test. CFE observes the flow of fluid in microgravity, in particular capillary or wicking behavior. Coleman earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. As a participant in physiological and equipment studies for the Armstrong Aeromedical Laboratory, she set several endurance and tolerance records. Coleman flew two missions aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-73 and STS-93 and spent 159 days in space for her long-duration space station mission to log more than 4,330 total hours in space.

13. Tracy Caldwell Dyson, STS-118, Expedition 24

A system to purify water for use in intravenous administration of saline would make it possible to better treat ill or injured crew members on future long-duration space missions. The IVGEN investigation demonstrates hardware to provide that capability. NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson sets up the experiment hardware in the station’s Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) during her long-duration 2010 mission. As noted above, she and Shannon Walker were part of the first space station crew with more than one woman. She has a degree in chemistry from California State University Fullerton, where she competed in track and field, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Davis. At UC Davis, she designed and built peripheral components for a variable temperature, ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy system.

14. Stephanie Wilson, STS-120, STS-121, STS-131

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