Women in space

Women in space programs

A number of women have traveled into space. Although the first woman flew into space in 1963, very early in crewed space exploration, it would not be until almost 20 years later that another flew.

Soviet Union (includes Russia)

The first woman in space was a Soviet cosmonaut. Valentina Tereshkova launched with the Vostok 6 mission on June 16, 1963. The first woman to walk in space was also a cosmonaut: Svetlana Savitskaya was on her second mission when she spaced-walked on July 17, 1984 as part of Salyut 7-EP2

Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman to go on EVA, launched on Soyuz T-12 on July 25, 1984, and the second woman overall to go into space.

Post-Soviet Russia

Russian Yelena V. Kondakova became the first woman to travel for both the Soyuz programme and the Space Shuttle. Yelena Serova became the first female Russian cosmonaut to visit the International Space Station on 26 September 2014.

The Russian space program has also hosted international cosmonauts. Helen Sharman from the United Kingdom (1991), Claudie Haigneré from France (1996 and 2001), Anousheh Ansari from Iran (2006), Yi So-yeon of South Korea (2008) and Samantha Cristoforetti from Italy (2014) and six Amen have entered space as part of the Soyuz programme.

United States

The United States did not have a woman in space until 1983, when astronaut Sally Ride launched with the seventh Space Shuttle mission. Since then more than 40 American women have entered space. Most served on the various Space Shuttle flights from 1983 to 2011.

Sally Ride was the third woman overall to go into space, launching on the space shuttle. Ride served on the STS-7 from June 18 to 24 in 1983. The first U.S. woman to go on an EVA was Kathryn ("Kathy") Sullivan on the STS-41-G which launched on October 11, 1984. The first woman to be on an ISS expedition crew was Susan Helms on Expedition 2, which lasted from March 2001 until August 2001. United States NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins became the 60th woman to fly in space when she launched to the International Space Station on July 6, 2016, serving as a flight engineer on Expedition 48 and 49. She returned in October 2016, having spent 12 hours and 46 minutes on EVA (Spacewalk) and 115 days in space and 12 hours and 46 minutes in space as part of these missions. During her stay on ISS she also conducted numerous experiments including in the area of biology. She was the first woman, and first person to sequence DNA in space.

In addition to U.S. citizens, US rockets have launched international astronauts. Roberta Bondar and Julie Payette from Canada (in 1992 and 1999/2009), Kalpana Chawla of India (1997 and 2003), and Chiaki Mukai and Naoko Yamazaki of Japan (1994/1998 and 2010) flew as part of the US space program.

A number of other high-profile women have contributed to interest in space programs. In the early 2000s, Lori Garver initiated a project to increase the visibility and viability of commercial spaceflight with the "AstroMom" project. She aimed to fill an unused Soyuz seat bound for the International Space Station because "…creating a spacefaring civilization was one of the most important things we could do in our lifetime.”

The United State's experienced the first loss of woman astronauts in 1986; Judith A. Resnik and Christa McAuliffe perished in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. McAuliffe was to be the first U.S. civilian and school teacher in space. Two more women were lost in the 2003 Colombia re-entry disaster, which claimed female astronauts Kalpana Chawla and Laurel B. Clark along with four other male crew-members.

Canada

Roberta Bondar was the first Canadian woman in space, and the second Canadian. She flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery in January 1992.

Another Canadian woman astronaut is Julie Payette from Montreal. Payette was part of the crew of STS-96, on the space shuttle Discovery from May 27 to June 6, 1999. During the mission, the crew performed the first manual docking of the Shuttle to the International Space Station, and delivered four tons of logistics and supplies to the station. On Endeavour in 2009 for STS-127, Payette served as a mission specialist. Her main responsibility was to operate the Canadarm robotic arm from the space station.

Japan

Chiaki Mukai was the first woman for Japan to go into space, and also the first to fly twice. In 1985, Mukai was selected as one of three Japanese Payload Specialist candidates for the First Material Processing Test (Spacelab-J) which flew aboard STS-47 in 1992. She also served as a back-up payload specialist for the Neurolab (STS-90) mission. Mukai has logged over 566 hours in space. She flew aboard STS-65 in 1994 and STS-95 in 1998. She is the first Japanese woman to fly in space, and the first Japanese citizen to fly twice.

Naoko Yamazaki became the second Japanese woman to fly into space with her launch on April 5, 2010, Yamazaki entered space on the shuttle Discovery as part of mission STS-131. She returned to Earth on April 20, 2010. Yamazaki worked on ISS hardware development projects in the 1990s, she is aerospace engineer and also has a masters in that field. She was selected for astronaut training in 1999 and was certified by 2001. She was a mission specialist on her 2010 space shuttle flight, and spend 362 hours in space. She is also married and a mother of one. Yamazaki worked on robotics and transitioned through the reorganization of Japanese spaceflight organization when 2003 NASDA merged with ISAS (Institute of Space & Astronautic Science) and NAL (National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan). The new organization was called JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).

China

In 2012, China became the fourth nation to send women into space. (The others are Russia, the former Soviet Union, and the United States.)

China's first female astronaut candidates, chosen in 2010 from the ranks of fighter pilots, were required to be married mothers. The Chinese stated that married women were "more physically and psychologically mature" and that the rule that they had have had children was because of concerns that spaceflight would harm their reproductive organs (which includes unfertilized embryos). The unknown nature of the effects of spaceflight on women was also noted. However, the director of the China Astronaut Centre has stated that marriage is a preference but not a strict limitation. Part of why they were so strict was because it was their first astronaught selection and they were trying be "extra cautious". China's first woman astronaut, Liu Yang, was married but had no children at the time of her flight in June 2012.

Additional nationalities

Women space tourists

Anousheh Ansari was the fourth overall self-funded space traveler, and the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station. She flew to the station in 2006 on the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft. Her mission launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 18 September 2006 at 08:09 MSD (04:09 UTC), docked with the ISS at 09:21 MSD (05:21 UTC) on 20 September, and returned to Earth on 21 April 2007. Soyuz TMA-9 transported two-thirds of ISS Expedition 14 to the space station along with Ansari. Ansari performed several experiments on behalf of the European Space Agency.

By 2015 four women were classified as "space flight participants": Helen Sharman, Claudie Haigneré (born André-Deshays), Anousheh Ansari, and Yi So-yeon.

Examples

Many human mothers have traveled in space. Anna Fisher became the first when she flew into orbit aboard Discovery with mission STS-51-A on November 8, 1984. (Yuri Gagarin was already a father at the time of Vostok 1, his historic first flight.)

Valentina Tereshkova was the first female in space to become a mother (after her flight). Shannon Lucid was already a mother when selected in 1978 to be an astronaut. She remembers being questioned by the press at that time on how her children would handle her being a mother in space. She went on to set an American record for time spent in space. During an 188-day stay in space, she sent daily emails to keep in touch with her family.

The first French woman in space was Claudie Haigneré, in 1996. She is married to Jean-Pierre Haigneré (also an astronaut), and is a mother of three, with one from that marriage.

Some more recent examples include astronaut and mother Nicole Stott, who made history in 2009 when she sent live Twitter messages from the ISS. Karen Nyberg became the 50th woman in space in 2008, and she is has logged more than 340 hours on long-term missions in space. Cady Coleman spent Mother's day in orbit in 2011.

Family relationships

Human mothers in space face a number of challenges related to managing family life and spaceflight. By the 2010s, email and Internet phones were noted as being used for communication with families when separated. One mother in space maintained a more tangible connection with her husband and son while in orbit, by talking with them over a phone and having a video conference once a week. According to the New York Times, another space mother brought her son's toys into orbit.

Losses

The topic of mothers in space gained prominence in 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded less than 2 minutes after launch with the loss of all hands. One of the crew, Christa McAuliffe, was a wife and mother of two. One way the disaster is linked to motherhood in space is that McAuliffe's mother had supported her dreams to be the first teacher in space, and she noted that although her daughter had trained for any number of emergencies on the Shuttle, no one had anticipated a disaster of that scope.

In the 2003 Space Shuttle Colombia disaster the crew was lost on re-entry including the female astronauts Kalpana Chawla (also the mission specialist) and Laurel Clark Laurel Clark was an astronaut mother who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, leaving behind her husband and son. Years later, her husband noted how his son helped him through the loss of his wife.

Physical effects of space on women

Female astronauts are subject to the same general physical effects of space travel as men. These include physiological changes due to weightlessness such as loss of bone and muscle mass, health threats from cosmic rays, dangers due to vacuum and temperature, and psychological stress.

One particularly female biological event is menstruation (aka the "period") which does not seem to be affected by space travel, in that it continues to occur. One issue that waste disposal facilities must handle human blood, or whatever else comes along with dealing with period such as blood-soaked sanitary wipes. Additional calculations must be made for spaceflight that take into account additional products needed for dealing with these events, as well as changes in mass due. In the United States, female space travels organize details of personal hygiene with the flight surgeon for space flight. On shorter spaceflight females may try to temporarily shut down their period using medication. On short flights it is also possible to time the menstruation so it does not occur during the spaceflight. Periods were one of the reasons NASA was slow to accept women in spaceflight; how the human body, let alone a woman's body, would react in space was unknown and it was theorized that woman could be bleed to death in micro gravity or cause other issues. As the knowledge base about how the human body responds to space grew (through Skylab, etc.) it seemed plausible and the 1978 astronaut class including six women. One concern was based on the issue that in micro-gravity fluids tend to pool inside body, and it was not clear without gravity what would happen to fluids released by the body during the period. A 1964 study identified that a woman's period could affect her performance.

Like other organs, the uterus, ovaries, and breasts are at danger from increased radiation exposure. Breast cancer may be related to bacteria that live in ducts in the breast. This was discovered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in a study that examined breast cancer, spaceflight, and "nipple aspirate fluid".

It is reported that bras are still worn in microgravity. Breasts are free from gravity but in many situations, such as when exercising on a treadmill, inertia still causes movement. Another aspect to woman in space is the release of nipple aspirate fluid, which comes from the same ducts that produce breast milk but can occur even when not making a lot of milk.

In the United States, women in space were studied in 1964. These women went through the same tests as the Mercury astronauts.

Women and their head hair has also been noted. For example, in micro gravity loose hairs can float freely and hair management has also been reported on.

Pregnancy

NASA has not permitted pregnant astronauts to fly in space, and to public knowledge there have been no pregnant women in space. However, various science experiments have dealt with some aspects of pregnancy.

Exposure to radiation is a concern. For air travel, the United States' Federal Aviation Administration recommends a limit of 1 mSv total for a pregnancy, and no more than 0.5 mSv per month. Astronauts on Apollo and Skylab missions received on average 1.2 mSv/day and 1.4 mSv/day respectively. Exposures on the ISS average 0.4 mSv per day (150 mSv per year), although frequent crew rotations minimize risk to individuals. A study published in 2005 in the International Journal of Impotence Research reported that short-duration missions (no longer than nine days) did not affect "the ability of astronauts to conceive and bear healthy children to term." In another experiment, the frog Xenopus laevis successfully ovulated in space.

Radiation shielding has been noted as an issue for space colonization because a woman's children could be sterile if she were exposed to too much ionizing radiation during the later stages of a pregnancy. Ionizing radiation may destroy the egg cells of a female fetus inside a pregnant woman, rendering the offspring infertile even when grown.

The lack of knowledge about pregnancy and birth control in microgravity has been noted in regards to conducting long-term space missions.

While no human has gestated in space as of 2003, scientists have conducted experiments on non-human mammalian gestation. Space missions that have studied "reproducing and growing mammals" includes Kosmos 1129 and 1154, as the Shuttle missions STS-66, 70, 72, and 90. A Soviet experiment in 1983 showed that a rat who orbitted while pregnant later gave birth to healthy babies; the babies were "thinner and weaker than their Earth-based counterparts and lagged behind a bit in their mental development," although the developing pups eventually caught up.

Childrearing

A 1998 Space Shuttle mission showed that rodent Rattus mothers were either not producing enough milk or not feeding children in space. However, a later study on pregnant rats showed that the animals successfully gave birth and lactated normally.

To date no human children have been born in space, nor have children gone into space. Nevertheless, the idea of children in space is taken seriously enough that some have discussed how to write curriculum for children in space-colonizing families.

Radiation

Like modern space-travel, air travel exposes people on aircraft to increased radiation from space as compared to sea level, including cosmic rays and from solar flare events.

The United States FAA requires airlines to provide flight crew with information about cosmic radiation, and an International Commission on Radiological Protection recommendation for the general public is no more than 1 mSv per year. In addition, many airlines do not allow pregnant flightcrew members, to comply with a European Directive. The FAA has a recommended limit of 1 mSv total for a pregnancy, and no more than 0.5 mSv per month. Information originally based on Fundamentals of Aerospace Medicine published in 2008.

Massive particles are a concern for astronauts outside the earth's magnetic field who would receive solar particles from solar proton events (SPE) and galactic cosmic rays from cosmic sources. These high-energy charged nuclei are blocked by Earth's magnetic field but pose a major health concern for astronauts traveling to the moon and to any distant location beyond the earth orbit. Highly charged HZE ions in particular are known to be extremely damaging, although protons make up the vast majority of galactic cosmic rays. Evidence indicates past SPE radiation levels that would have been lethal for unprotected astronauts.

A trip to Mars with current technology might be related measurements by the Mars Science Laboratory which for a 180-day journey estimated an exposure approximately 300 mSv, which would be equivalent of 24 CAT scans or "15 times an annual radiation limit for a worker in a nuclear power plant". German standards for pregnant woman set a limit of 50 mSv/year for the gonads and uterus, and 150 mSv/year for the breasts. For pregnant woman, radiation increases the risk of childhood cancers for the fetus.

One the problems with radiation exposure of spaceflight for pregnant woman is that the child she is carrying might not be able to have children. When a child is still in the womb, the baby's developing reproductive organs are sensitive to radiation; a fetus of either gender could be rendered infertile.