When the world celebrates Women’s day on March 8, India Flash looks at some of the women who made it into the space. Sixty five women, including astronauts, cosmonauts, space station participants and payload specialists have till now flown to space.
Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is the first woman in space who flew on Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963.
Some of the firsts with respect to woman
- Svetlana Savitskaya, Roscosmos cosmonaut, was first woman to participate in spacewalk on July 25, 1984.
- NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson was the first female ISS Commander
- Most women in space at a single time happened in 2010. Discovery’s crew Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki. Space station crew Tracy Caldwell Dyson was also present at that time in space.
- Expedition 24 had two women for the first time. NASA astronauts Shannon Walker and Tracy Caldwell Dyson were in that.
- The 2013 astronaut class was the first to have equal numbers of women and men.
- Jessica Meir and Christina Koch, NASA astronauts, completed the first all-female spacewalk in 2019.
A list of women who participated in science expeditions on space station since 2001
Jessica
A NASA astronaut, she has taken part in hundreds of experiments. In October 2019, Jessica completed the first all-female spacewalk as part of Veg-04B experiment. The study is part of developing fresh food production system and effects of light
Christina Koch
She has the record of the longest time in space for a woman in a single mission. Christina Koch worked on several experiments, including studies of plants in space and protein crystals. The woman astronaut She has also participated in studies on future exploration missions that include how human body adjusts to isolation, weightlessness and radiation during long duration spaceflight.
Anne McClain
She is a Flight Engineer. McClain is associated with Marrow, which looks into negative effects of microgravity on bone marrow and blood cells.
Serena Auñón Chancellor
She is related with research operations for AngieX. The study relates to cost-effective drug testing.
Peggy Whitson
This woman astronaut holds several spaceflight records. She holds he US record for cumulative time of 665 days in space. She is also credited with most spacewalks for any US astronaut. Whitson has served as the first science officer aboard the space station. Apart from this, she was also the female commander of space station. She has also the credit of being the only woman to become the chief of astronaut office.
Sunita Williams
She was the second woman to be commander of the space station. Sunita Williams is also the only person to have run a marathon iun Space. She flew in space shuttle and Soyuz. Williams is also chosen to fly fly Boeing CST-100 Starliner during its first mission for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
