Women In Space Program Essay

TThe US space program has a long history, which began in the 1950s. Women played a key role in this history as secretaries, human computers, wives of astronauts, astronauts, and many more. The spark that struck the idea for an American space program was Sputnik, the first Russian satellite in space. The US started with building nuclear weapons before they were ready for the space program, NASA. Once NASA was formed it was their goal to get humans in space, at first scientists thought it was the best idea to have women in space because they were lighter weight and more aerodynamic. Before NASA was actually ready to send the first people in space, a scientist Randy Lovelace performed physicals on air fighters (all men) and women independently. …show more content…
Women were first considered for space travel in the 1960s when Randy Lovelace performed many tests to show that women were qualified for space travel, although his mission was shut down in 1962. Many people felt that putting women in space was the equivalent of putting apes in space, an embarrassing joke. The world was just simply not ready for women to leave the domestic sphere of the home to become astronauts. Once people realized that space travel was safe and became more routine the world was finally ready for women astronauts. This was also around the time of the women’s liberation movement (60s and 70s) and NASA realized that if they didn’t put women in space there would be public backlash. They were worried about potential lawsuits and cases against them for public discrimination. Overall, it took so long for women to enter space because of societal concerns. Once the society seemed ready for female astronauts, NASA had to give them what they wanted. Finally when women became astronauts it seemed they were just as qualified as men and thrived not only in space, but also as engineers and mathematicians with