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Inspiration February 17, 2017
Peggy Whitson, American Female AstronautWhen it comes to space exploration, female astronauts probably aren’t the first figures who come to mind. You have probably heard of a few important names like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, John Glenn and Alan Shepard. These are the astronauts you read about in your history books and the men your parents and grandparents saw land on the moon. These early space explorers have become part of a collective memory that includes everything from museums and airports to Oscar winning films. These are the names that history chooses to remember.
READ MORE: ‘Hidden Figures’ Recognizes Black Women’s Contributions to NASA’s Space Race
But what about the names that have been historically ignored? Here are five female astronauts that you might not know about but definitely should.
Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to ever go to space. According to her biography, Tereshkova was born to a tractor driver and a textile worker in the Yaroslavl Region of The Soviet Union. Surprisingly, she quit school at a very early age to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a textile assembly worker.
During this time, Tereshkova became interested in parachute jumping, which ultimately led to her selection as one of four women in Krushchev’s woman in space program. Of the four women recruited for the ambitious program, only Tereshkova was selected to go to space. Tereshkova boarded the Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963, becoming the first woman to fly in space.
The flight orbited the earth 48 times and lasted nearly three days. Upon her return to earth and the completion of her mission, Tereshkova became a spokesperson for the Soviet Union and eventually earned the United Nations Gold Medal of Peace.
Sally Ride, born in 1951, would become the first American woman – and the youngest American astronaut – to go to space. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Ride studies physics and English at Stanford University before applying for a position with NASA in 1978.
In 1983, she boarded the Challenger and become the third woman – after Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaya – to complete a successful mission in space. While in training for her third mission, the Challenger disaster occurred, and she joined the investigation before retiring two years later.
READ LATER: How Close Are We to Colonizing Mars? Not So out of This World
While Ride no longer worked for NASA, she never let go of her enthusiasm for science and technology. In 1987 she joined Stanford’s Center for International Security and Arms Control before turning to teaching.
Nearly thirty years after Tereshkova became the first woman in space, Eileen Collins made her mark as the first woman to pilot – and, later, to command – a shuttle mission. Collins was born in Elmira New York on November 19, 1956. At the age of 19, Collins saved enough money from her various part time jobs to pay for flying lessons. Just a few years later, she graduated from Syracuse University with a BA in Mathematics and Economics.
According to her biography, following undergrad Collins became “one of four women admitted to Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma.” By 1979, just ten years after the first lunar landing, Collins became the first female flight instructor of The United States Air Force. Following her graduation from Air Force Test Pilot school, she achieved the impressive rank of Air Force colonel.
In 1995, five years after being selected as an astronaut, Collins performed a historic role as the first female pilot of a U.S. shuttle mission on the orbiter Discovery. But her list of impressive achievements did not stop there. Collins continued to pave the way for aspiring female astronauts when she became the first woman to command a shuttle mission in 1999.
Jemison was born in Alabama on October 17, 1956. After moving to Chicago at a young age, Jemison demonstrated a vast interest in science in her classes. When she was very young, she already knew that she wanted to go to space one day. After graduating from high school at the age of 16, Jemison immediately started to study chemical engineering at Stanford University.
READ MORE: The Women of ‘Hidden Figures’
After graduating, she entered medical school at Cornell and then joined the Peace Corps. Jemison worked as a general practitioner in the Peace Corps between 1983 to 1985, after which she applied to and joined NASA.
In 1992, Jemison made history as first black woman to go to space. She logged a total of 190 hours, 30 minutes and 23 seconds in space. After retiring from her short-lived astronaut career, Jemison founded the Jemison Group and the Dororthy Jemison Foundation for Excellence; the former promotes research in STEM while the latter encourages youths and minorities to participate in the sciences.
Peggy Whitson was born on February 9, 1960, in Mount Ayr, Iowa. Whitson grew up on a farm in rural Iowa where the closest town of Beaconsfield claimed a mere 15 residents as of 2015. But Whitson’s humble beginnings as a farmhand for her parents did not stop her from pursuing her dream of being an astronaut.
Whitson earned her B.S. in biology and chemistry from Iowa Wesleyan College and her doctorate in biochemistry from Rice University. After earning her Ph.D. in 1985, Whitson moved to NASA’s Johnson Space Center where she worked in a variety of positions until she was selected for astronaut training in the summer of 1996.
READ MORE: How Women ‘Computers’ Transformed Early Space Exploration
Whitson’s first flight to space began on June 2, 2002 aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, where she conducted a variety of scientific experiments and earned the role of NASA’s first scientific officer. On October 10, 2007, Whitson boarded the “Soyuz TMA-11” for her second flight to space as the first female commander of the International Space Station. Between her two tours of duty, Whitson spent a total of 377 days in space, setting the record for the most time spent in space by any U.S. astronaut.
Today Whitson is currently on her third tour of duty at the International Space Station after a launch date in late 2016. At 56, she is the oldest person to ever go to space.
True, the names of these five women might not be as easily recognizable as other male astronauts’. However, they are just as inspirational – and they prove to girls everywhere that, with the right amount of skill and hard work, women can reach even the furthest of stars.
