Finally, I found the box with the books. See?
That means it’s time for the Rocket Girls: The Last Planet giveaway contest. This time, to celebrate both the book and International Women’s Day—for we are nothing if not international around here—the essay will be on gender and space exploration! The first female in space, Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, was also the first civilian in space. Now, of course, there have been a number of female astronauts, including Japan’s own Chiaki Mukai, a JAXA astronaut and surgeon who was part of two space shuttle missions.
So, what do you think of the future of space exploration, and specifically, the future of women in space. Good idea? Bad idea? Best left to private interests rather than governments? Anarchosyndicalist communes only? Are the challenges of space so immense that the differences between men and women pale in comparison to the harshness of the environment? Let us know, and the four entries I like best will receive copies of Rocket Girls: The Last Planet!
Be sure to get your comment in by noon, March 18th, Pacific time. (Extended from the 11th!) Also, if you comment and it doesn’t show up right away—don’t worry. I’m having oral surgery this week so there may be some delays in approving the comments that aren’t spam.
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Tags: giveaway contest, International Women's Day, space is the place
I honestly don’t think there’s much of a future for space exploration. With the economy’s state rapidly declining, and the global conflicts arising I think it will be hard to focus on such tasks. The costs for such projects alone will make the mission almost impossible to fund. I’m sure there may still be the occasional satellite sent up for communication, and technology purposes. It’s hard to imagine any more space exploration missions being possible.
When it comes to women in space, I don’t think there should be any problem. I think women are just as capable as men to do such a job. I’m a man, and I would probably have some sort of panic attack going up in space. If a woman wants to go up there then I think she should be allowed to do so especially if she qualifies for the position.
I think that the decision should be between the woman in question and the people who are behind the mission. If she qualifies then I would see no reason why she shouldn’t be allowed to contribute. Men and women both have strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think the job should just be dedicated to only men. You’ll find in this world’s vast history many women who have changed things for the better, and made way for improvements concerning all mankind. In the end I believe gender has nothing to do with the greatness one can achieve.
I think space exploration is nearly a dead end right now. Unless we increase our space budgets, we can’t get space exploration OR women in space. If we could get billionaires to pay mandatory dues to NASA and other similar organizations, we could get all the beautiful and talented women we want into space.
Eventually its going to have to be reengaged as a major societal effort, historically humanity has always sought to expand beyond its planetary based boundaries so its only a matter of time before we expand into the other worlds of this solar system and then eventually beyond to the stars themselves.
As to the nature of the expansion – well if we look at the colonization of North America as an example it was done under corporate aegis so likely space colonization will be the same thing. And as far as female astronauts are concerned there should be no rationale to disqualify a woman from such a position. If a person is capable of performing the tasks required to fulfill the role then gender should not enter into the equation…
In fact it might actually be better for all astronauts to be women as their bodies are generally capable of undergoing stronger tensions & pressures than men’s bodies & are more organized and focused on whole. In space not paying attention to the little details can potentially be fatal…and sometimes guys just like to cut corners…
The short-term future of space exploration is likely unmanned–budget cuts to NASA have led to the rapid privatization of manned spaceflight and the advent of space tourism, a more immediately lucrative enterprise than exploration. Space tourism and the privatization of spaceflight don’t mean the end of science in space–in fact, they opens doors for short-term experiments that would previously have been prohibitively expensive–but they do make it more likely that any larger-scale manned exploration will be based on profit potential rather than the pursuit of knowledge, which is a damn shame.
The future of women in that space program is, I think, a separate issue. There’s currently a critical shortage of women in both fields from which astronauts are drawn–hard sciences and military aviation–and until that problem is corrected, women will likewise remain a small minority in every dimension of the space program. Some of the imbalance will gradually self-correct as explicit gender restrictions (i.e. the bans on female test pilots that precluded the inclusion of women in the first generation of astronauts) dissolve. More, though, is a product of systemic and societal bias and will take more than nominal equality measures to address: ultimately, what the future of women in the space program really hinges on is the accessibility and appeal of math and science education to girls, and the destigmatization of women and girls in those fields.
True but humans haven’t really played a direct role in space exploration (aside from Lunar); most of the system that has been visited has been visited by machines controlled from Earth. This is due to the rudimentary nature of our crewed space craft, both in terms of delta vee and the ability to survive for protracted periods of time in space (in particular, not getting the astronauts cooked by a flare; not an issue under the Van Allens but a genuine concern even for Lunar forays).
NASA’s not the only game in town, although it is a major player, and I seem to recall that the constant dollar global investment into space exploration grows at about 2% a year. Assuming the same pace of development over the next few decades as has been seen in the last few decades, this growth rate perhaps could place a crewed mission to e.g. Mars within the financially conceivable within the 21st century, although more likely towards the end of it.
I believe that Rocket Girls is a prophetic look at the future of space exploration. That means there will be teenage girls in space. Teenage girls means Justin Beiber will be in space. Justin Beiber means there will be flowbees in space. Flowbees mean Ron Popeil will be in space. Ron Popeil means there will be infomercials in space. Infomercials mean there will be drunks watching TV at 3:00 AM in space. Drunks mean there will be bars in space. Bars mean there will be vapid blondes who’ll tell me to get lost when I hit on them.
Therefore I will stay on Earth, which will have become a utopia thanks to Beiber, Popeil, drunks, and vapid blondes going into space.
Space exploration is a human necessity at this point. There is absolutely no way that the human race can continue to live on this planet as we have been for the last several decades. Our natural resources will eventually dry up, and in order to continue to enjoy the comfortable lives we have built for ourselves, we will have to begin mining other planets for our resources. And who knows, we may find a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels out there.
As for women in space, I say “Go for it, ladies!”. I’m all for more gender equality, especially with exciting ventures such as space exploration. Every step a woman takes towards the stars is another step away from the cultures of misogyny and gender discrimination that inhabit far too many civilized places in our world.
I’ve also heard that women are also more attractive in space. Apparently, due to the general lack of gravity, things like wrinkles and crow’s feet completely disappear.
I do believe that space exploration should be left to private interests and corporations instead of governments, however. Although NASA is a big part of the field, they are horribly inefficient when compared to privately funded ventures. Bureaucracy is the poison that kills progress and productivity, and NASA is absolutely loaded with it. A privately funded venture, however, would be free from the government red tape that hinders organizations like NASA from reaching their full potential.
I’m guessing there will be a (wo)manned mission to Mars; however, technology fails so everyone will die. Unmanned exploration will probably be cheaper, and a lot less of a publicity nightmare.
Actually, with the advent of 3D printing and other advances, I feel that bottom up space exploration is the wave of the future. With that in mind, women of course will have an important part to play in any sort of wave of human expansion into any new frontier, like they always have. I feel that the negative views expressed by other posters are merely symptoms of our current hard times. But times change, they always do.
In regards to bureaucracy, even more deadly is corporate bureaucracy, where results are beholden to the whims of investors who can only think in terms of short term profits, as opposed to bottom-up communities of working people. Once the 3D printing openware revolution starts, true innovation will come from the street, not from bankers or the wealthy, who have usually been stiflers of innovation and new ideas.
What will be interesting will be space exploration efforts by ethnic and other communities. Kim Stanley Robinson explores this in Red Mars. I feel that this predictive.
Women, I feel, will lead in future space exploration efforts like they’ve been leaders in prior pioneer efforts.
My guess:
With governments continuing to send adorable robots rather than messy humans of any kind into space, most of our manned space flights will continue to be literally manned – because private dilettantes will be the ones making it happen, and both the wealth and the inclination to waste it on a multi-hour flight to someplace where you can’t leave your vehicle, simply for bragging rights, will likely continue to be concentrated in the hands of a few individuals who happen to be male. Oh, there will be outliers, but only a few and they’ll be accused of doing it for attention (especially if they take their bras off at any time whilst in space.)
The real breach of the gender barrier will occur somewhat later, when someone decides to set a reality show in orbit.
I honestly do not think that manned spaceflight is going to be put in the dustbin of history. I also feel that space exploration will continue (albeit in a reduced capacity). However, what is needed to re-energize these efforts will be a new effort similar to Project Apollo. What will bring this about…I don’t know. Sadly space efforts are also victims of politics and economics, even though they give back a tremendous amount of returns. Look around you–the high-tech age we live in is a direct result of the space program.
I strongly feel that women are necessary in space exploration. Women from different nations have already commanded shuttle missions, have stayed aboard the ISS. In space, gender and ethnicity should not matter–period. Perhaps the best thing about the Space Shuttle program was that it allowed for the breaking of both the color barrier and the glass ceiling when it came to exploring the final frontier.
We cannot remain a planet-bound race forever, caught up in petty squabbles while acting like clueless groundhogs. We need to get out there and explore, because this planet is a fragile basket…and we’ve put way too many eggs in it.
So what’s the future, then? Earthbound overpopulation, or moving out into space (cue the vision of the Sides from GUNDAM)?
Of course women have a place in space in the future, and yeah I still think we’ll be doing manned missions (although I mean we as a planet- I highly doubt NASA will be doing this for much longer, sadly…) out into the space-o-sphere. I think that someone (private company? I hope not….although India and China might beat us) will get a mission to Mars (probably no return trip, which is the best way to do it, I think) and it will most likely have women on board.
Which raises some interesting questions. We know about the problems of pregnancy in space (and how it damages the uterus, zero gravity causing huge problems for growth, etc), but what about on an exoplanet? And would it be ethical to raise a child in an environment such as that (or course, the easy argument to that is it ethical to raise a child on this planet- over populated, destroying environment, etc)? If there are complications in pregnancy, what are the risks? Would mandatory sterilization (both sexes here) be a way around the problems, and is that ethical as well?
Nasa seems to like the skirt around the idea of astronauts and sex with a “just don’t” policy, but that doesn’t really address the issue, does it? And what about complex romantic triangles with negative repercussions? (like that one woman who went to go kidnap a fellow astronaut from his wife and kids because she loved him).
Is this just a re-enactment of No Exit in space waiting to happen? Of course, now I’m just babbling.
I think a women-only anarchist co-operative science mission space station would be awesome, and it should have its own reality TV show! A few moon colonies would also be great, just so that we could have some excellent drama and political tension. If we can’t manage to swing the “women-only” part, then I’ll settle for something like Space Island One!
On the other hand, I don’t think we’re going to solve the problems of capitalism and patriarchy just by going off the planet, especially when it takes so many resources to get into space and stay there.