NASA this week shone a spotlight on the insurmountable contributions of women to the space industry as part of Women’s History Month.
Since Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963, 65 women have conducted missions to space and have served across a diverse range of jobs and specialties.
Melissa Gaskill of the ISS Program Science Office outlined that women have served as “cosmonauts, astronauts, payload specialists, and space station participants”.
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While Svetlana Savitskaya in 1984 became the first woman to undertake a spacewalk, Susan Helms – who was the ISS’ first female member of crew – co-holds the record for the lengthiest individual spacewalk, which stands at eight hours and 56 minutes.
Meanwhile, in October 2019, Jessica Meir and Christina Koch completed the first female-only spacewalk.
NASA outlined that the 2013 astronaut class was the first graduating class with equal representation of men and women.
[Related: NASA announces new round of NIAC grants]
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Liam began his career as a speechwriter at New South Wales Parliament before working for world-leading campaigns and research agencies in Sydney and Auckland. Throughout his career, Liam has managed and executed a range of international media and communications campaigns spanning politics, business, industrial relations and infrastructure. He’s since shifted his attention to researching and writing extensively on geopolitics and defence, specifically in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and is undertaking a Masters in Strategy and Security from UNSW Canberra.
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