Page 46 - World Airnews September 2020 Edition

WOMEN IN
AVIATION

BRINGING GENDER

EQUITY TO SPACE

pace: the final frontier. We’ve called

Sit that since “Star Trek” popularised
the phrase in the 1960s. Captain Kirk’s open-
ing monologue recited the Enterprise’s mis-
sion “to boldly go where no man has gone
before.” But it wasn’t just men aboard the
Enterprise. Several women played key roles
on board, and “Star Trek” was ahead of its

time in social commentary and showcasing
people of colour. It was also well ahead of
the real-life space programme at NASA.
In the intervening decades, a lot has
changed on that front, but there is still

plenty of work to be done. Space might still

be the final frontier for gender equity.

In the spring of 2019, Anne McClain and

Christina Koch were set to perform the first

all-female space walk outside the Interna-
tional Space Station. Then a problem arose.

Both fit better in medium-sized upper torso NASA astronauts Christina Koch (left) and Jessica Meir work on

spacesuit assemblies. While there were their US spacesuits ahead of a spacewalk they conducted to install

two mediums aboard, only one had been new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power collected

prepped for a spacewalk. Instead, Nick from solar arrays on the station’s Port-6 truss structure
Hague replaced McClain on the walk.

Depending on your perspective, you
might see the incident as an amusing
“wardrobe malfunction” and joke about

our ability to walk in space but not have
enough gear in the right size.
Or, you might see it as another sign of

how institutions default to accommodating

men and make gender equity an after-
thought. NASA spacesuits come only in
medium, large and extra large.
When a technical glitch forced a redesign
in the 1990s, none of the astronauts on the
roster at the time needed a small. So they

just never made one.
As McClain’s case shows, they’re not ex-
actly flush with mediums, either. To be fair,

the suits cost millions of dollars to make,
but budget decisions often are hidden fac-

tors that re-inforce unequal representation

in institutions.

Koch and Jessica Meir eventually per-

formed the first all-female spacewalk last
October. Those three women, along with
Nicole Mann, were part of the historic
Astronaut Group 21 class in 2013.
The group has four men and four women, Mary W Jackson, aerospace engineer in the large supersonic tunnels branch

the first time a NASA astronaut class fea- of full-scale research division, explains the facilities used in testing research

tured as many women as men. models such as SCAT. The guidance counseling class from Hampton Institute

The 2017 class, Astronaut Group 22, visited the center on July 30 and toured a number of facilities. The purpose of

brought in another five women astronaut the visit was to provide the counselors an opportunity to see areas of work
out of 12 total. These are monumental representing fields in which their students might be employed. The group,

steps, to be sure, but of the 48 astronauts under the direction of Professor Fissell Jones (Left, back row) of Hampton

NASA lists as eligible for flight assignment, Institute, represented the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and

only a third are female. Georgia. In 1958 Mary Jackson became NASAÕs first black female engineer

World Airnews | September 2020
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