For over half a century, NASA has equipped and trained an amazing roster of astronauts to venture out into space, and to make the unknown a little less daunting for the rest of us.
A look back at the manned Apollo missions to the moon shows just how iconic these ventures have become today, and how much more we need to know about our planet to ensure its well-being.
Years ago, however, the administration was predominantly an all-boys' club — but after the inclusion of the first-ever female astronauts in 1978, more and more women have fearlessly stepped into the role of space traveler.
Recently, four members of NASA's newest class of astronauts sat down with Glamour magazine to speak about how they first started their careers, and what traveling to Mars — now the most hotly anticipated aeronautic mission on Earth — would mean to them.
Scroll down to read more about their stories, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
[H/T: Glamour]
NASA has overseen decades of space and aeronautics research.
When NASA’s first missions began, however, they were predominantly male — much like an elite, exclusive fraternity.
In fact, 50 years ago, when NASA was in its early stages of formation, women were nowhere to be found on its projects and missions.
“We have no existing program concerning women astronauts nor do we contemplate any such plan,” the administration wrote to a Miss Kelly, of Storrs, CT, who had wanted to apply.
But everything changed in January 1978, when NASA selected six women to become its first-ever female astronaut candidates.
Pictured from left to right, Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher, and Sally K. Ride would be the first women to enroll in a training program for space travel.
Fast-forward 38 years, and we are looking at NASA’s newest class of astronauts.
Four of these astronauts — an astounding 50 percent of the class — are women.
For more than two years, they have been gearing up for the most ambitious (and daunting) mission known to man yet: traveling to Mars.
While the mission won’t take place for at least another 15 years, women are, for the first time in NASA’s history, taking on a heavy role in building, testing, designing, and controlling pieces of equipment, rockets, space suits, and remote rovers.
Several governments are participating in this “race to Mars,” with some even hoping to allow civilians to make this 35 million-mile trip in the future.
“I had always set my sights on working with NASA, but I didn’t want to get there by checking the usual boxes, like learning to fly and scuba dive,” astronaut Christina Hammock Koch, 37, told Glamour magazine.
“I wanted to get there because I was passionate about science and the next frontier.”
Prior to working at NASA, Christina spent a year at the South Pole, where she engineered projects with telescopes.
Along with the other members of the 2013 Astronaut Class, she will have the opportunity to be selected for the six to nine-month journey to Mars.
Astronaut Jessica Meir, 38, had always been drawn to “remote places and extreme challenges.”
She has a PhD in marine biology, has lived and worked in Antarctica, and, on occasions, had even dove under several feet of ice for research.
“The idea of exploration has always been a part of the human experience,” she told Glamour. “Trying to understand our place in the universe is what drives me more than anything.”
All astronauts have to train hard to prepare for the mission.
Once on Mars, they will have to brave temperatures of -284 °F and face an atmosphere that is full of cancer-inducing radioactive particles.
They’ll have to fend for themselves in the event that equipment breaks down and make their way through harsh, desert-like terrain.
As Jason Crusan, director of advanced exploration systems, told the magazine: “It’s not like the moon; that’s a three-day trip. When you go to Mars, you’re going. You can’t abort.”
And yet, this is a dream that most astronauts cannot resist.
Astronaut Anne McClain, 36, can’t recall a time in her life when she didn’t want to be an astronaut.
She once served 15 months in Iraq, fearlessly flying helicopters, but she always felt that becoming an astronaut was her one true calling in life.
“With so much conflict in the world, space exploration can be a beacon of hope,” she said. “No one cares about race or religion or nationality in space travel. We’re all just part of Team Human.”
Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann, 38, couldn’t agree more.
She had no idea what she wanted to be growing up, and only realized that she might actually succeed in space after she flew a fighter jet for the first time.
“Going into space will be the absolute coolest thing in the world,” she said.
If chosen for the mission, these women will become legends — pioneers and role models for little girls everywhere.
“Mars can teach us so much about the past, present, and future of our own planet,” added astronaut Meir. “That’s a phenomenal thing!”
“If we go to Mars, we’ll be representing our entire species in a place we’ve never been before,” said astronaut McClain.
“To me it’s the highest thing a human being can achieve.”
Please SHARE if you think these brave women are heroes!
