$\"NASA$ <\/a>

Dr Mae Jemison<\/p><\/div>\n

What do<\/em> you call a female astronaut? These are some of the ingenious words that journalists invented in the early 1960s to avoid having to say \u2018astronaut\u2019 when describing\u00a0Jerrie Cobb<\/strong>, the first woman to pass NASA tests and qualify as an astronaut, although she never had a chance to go into space.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about astronauts recently for two reasons. Firstly, a friend of mine lent me this\u00a0absorbing book<\/a> about the \u2018Mercury 13\u2032 \u2013 women including Cobb who were trained as astronauts but never went into space because America wasn\u2019t brave enough.<\/p>\n

Secondly, I discovered a pile of my old school reports in my mum\u2019s flat the other day and was astonished to read that my stated career ambition at age 11 was \u2018astronaut\u2019. I mean, I loved space and stars and rockets \u2013 are there any kids that don\u2019t? And I do remember wanting to be an astronaut. But at 11? It makes me wonder how old I was when I gave up wanting to be a knight of the round table…<\/p>\n

A dream for boys?<\/h2>\n
I\u2019m not going to rant about how being an astronaut shouldn\u2019t be a distant dream for a girl. Let\u2019s face it, astronauting isn\u2019t an easy line to get into – it\u2019s a distant dream for most people. Apparently there have been 512 humans in space, of which 10% have been women (Wikipedia<\/a> \u00a0has a list of space travellers.) Unimpressive, I agree, but when you bear in mind that we can scarcely get women into the House of Commons (around 20% of MPs are women) getting them into space seems like less of a priority.<\/p>\n

What really interests me is that women into space doesn\u2019t really go even\u00a0as a dream<\/em>. Of course, there\u2019s been an\u00a0astronaut Barbie<\/a>, but the gender stereotypes that so confused journalists back then are still very much in evidence in the aisles of toy shops today, as\u00a0 this post on Sociological Images<\/a>\u00a0neatly shows. Being an astronaut is a childhood dream for boys only.<\/p>\n
A dream for men?<\/h2>\n
In fact, even in adult culture\u00a0it seems we\u2019re not totally\u00a0cool<\/em>\u00a0with the dream of female astronauts. Here\u2019s a brief, interesting\u00a0article<\/a> \u00a0by Marie Lathers from Times Higher Ed about women astronauts in films, which takes in\u00a0Alien<\/strong>,\u00a0Contact<\/strong>,\u00a0Apollo 13<\/strong>\u00a0and even\u00a0I Dream of Jeannie<\/strong>\u00a0(astronaut husband).<\/p>\n
Lathers sees an identification of the feminine with mother earth and nature, setting them in opposition to space and even to science. Given this conflict she suggests that women in space are more frequently aligned with the alien (our old friend the Other) than with the human space adventurer. She sez:<\/p>\n

Popular culture representations of women in space reveal a need to \u201cground\u201d women by keeping them bound to Earth. Woman grounded is woman subjected to the weight of gravity; bodies in space defy gravity. Feminist theory needs to assess the possibilities that rethinking women in space affords. \u201cExtraterrestrial\u201d feminism may provide a way out of the essentialism that bottles us up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s an interesting notion, and one that the arts student in me would like to pursue. However, I wanted to talk about some of the real female astronauts as well as the dream. I\u2019ll just give a few examples from their stories – I couldn\u2019t bear to pick just one of these incredible women.<\/p>\n

\u2018A woman\u2019s place is in the cockpit\u2019<\/h2>\n
I mentioned poor Jerrie Cobb and the\u00a0 Mercury 13<\/a> \u00a0who so narrowly missed being the first \u2018feminauts\u2019. Another fascinating woman is linked to the US Women in Space Program. Without beautician-turned-aviator\u00a0 Jackie Cochran<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 who held more speed, altitude and distance records than any other pilot in aviation history at the time of her death in 1980 \u2013 it may never have happened at all. Check out\u00a0Right Stuff Wrong Sex<\/a> \u00a0for the story of a serious political operator at work.<\/p>\n
Russian\u00a0 Valentina Tereshkova<\/strong><\/a> made it to first woman in space, in 1963 (beating the US by an appalling TWENTY YEARS) and launched skywards from a suitably proletarian background \u2013 she was a textile factory worker and an amateur parachutist who left school at 8 and continued her education through correspondence courses. She spent three days in space, and went round the earth 48 times.<\/p>\n
Physicist\u00a0Dr Sally Ride<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was the first American woman in space, in 1983, and one of our own (feminists, that is). Ride reportedly:<\/p>\n

… refused to be seen in television downlinks doing food preparation or toilet cleaning, even though these were shared crew responsibilities. She refused to accept a bouquet of flowers from NASA after completing her first space mission. She pasted a bumper sticker to the front of her desk: \u201cA woman\u2019s place is in the cockpit\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ride went on to found science education organisation\u00a0 Sally Ride Science<\/a>, which pleasingly promises to be \u201call science, all the time\u201d and encourages girls to learn about and enjoy science and maths.<\/p>\n

In 1992 scientist, doctor and peace worker\u00a0 Dr Mae Jemison<\/strong><\/a> became the first woman of colour in space. After her retirement from NASA, Jemison has led work supporting research into the use of technology in developing countries and science education for teenagers. AND she wins pop culture points by being the first real life astronaut to appear on Star Trek<\/strong>. Which is especially neat as she said that Lieutenant Uhura (played by Nichelle Nichols) was one of her early heroes. Look at this awesome picture<\/a> of them together.<\/p>\n
Women to look up to<\/h2>\n
I think it\u2019s particularly because I\u2019m not from a tech or science background that female astronauts are like superheroes to me. That\u2019s why I love this\u00a0 Flickr set<\/a> of loosely inspired portraits Philip Bond has done. Obviously they\u2019ve lovely things in themselves, but I like them because they look like collectible playing cards, or stickers. I want Tereshkova on a t-shirt. I want people to ask me who she is so I can tell them.<\/p>\n
$\"Pop-art$ <\/a>
Valentina Tereshkova, by Phillip Bond, 2009 (philipjbond on Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

You know when I said earlier that getting women into space wasn\u2019t really a priority? Not compared to getting women into Parliament, for example. Well, in a way that\u2019s not true. It\u2019s all a priority. Because real life role models give you the permission to have the dream.<\/p>\n

Every girl who dreams of being an astronaut won\u2019t become one. But she may become an engineer, or a physicist, a mathematician, a pilot, an athlete. She might teach science to other girls. She may be a leader.<\/p>\n

There are exceptional individuals who blaze a trail, like the women above. But I think I can safely speak for most of us when I say it\u2019s nice to have someone to look up to.<\/p>\n

Why was I so keen on being an astronaut? I think it was as much to do with\u00a0 Helen Sharman<\/strong><\/a>, who became the first British person in space when I was 8, as it was to do with my love of stars.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve probably deduced that I didn\u2019t become an astronaut. But I did become a feminist, and it\u2019s women like these that inspire me.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019ve probably deduced that I didn\u2019t become an astronaut. But I did become a feminist, and it\u2019s women like these that inspire me.<\/p>\n

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