The film “Hidden Figures,” based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, focuses on the stories of Katherine Johnson (left, after receiving the Medal of Freedom in 2015), Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan, African-American women who were essential to the success of early spaceflight. Today, NASA embraces their legacy and strives to include everyone who wants to participate in its ongoing exploration. “Progress is driven by questioning our assumptions and cultural assumptions,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says in a new video. “Embracing diversity and inclusion is how we as a nation will take the next giant leap in exploration.“
Toy manufacturer Lego Group has
announced it will be creating a set of Legos based around the women of
NASA, Community Specialist Hasan Jensen wrote in a blog post for the company on Tuesday.
The idea for the project was originally pitched by Maia Weinstock, who submitted it to Lego through the company’s Lego Ideas program.
The set will include five women who contributed to NASA’s
mission, including computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, mathematician
Katherine Johnson, astronaut Sally Ride, astronomer Nancy Grace Roman
and astronaut Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to enter
space in 1992. Read more (2/28/17 5:53 PM)
Just a reminder that the first NASA astronauts were supposed to be women because generally they are smaller, lighter (less weight in the cockpit means less fuel required) and eat less than men and so would be easier to accommodate in space.
Both men and women trained (and many of the female finalists had higher scores than the men), but they were completely excluded from the final selection because of their gender.
13 women underwent final training, all were accomplished pilots with at least 1000 hours flying experience, all passed the necessary tests, all could have been astronauts if only they were afforded the opportunity.
[below, Jerrie Cobb photographed during testing]
They are collectively known as the Mercury 13, there’s a great blog entry about them here and a brilliant PBS documentary too.
Their names are Myrtle Cagle, Jerrie Cobb, Janet Dietrich, Marion Dietrich, Wally Funk, Sarah Gorelick, Jane “Janey” Hart, Jean Hixson, Rhea Hurrle, Gene Nora Stumbough, Irene Leverton, Jerri Sloan and Bernice Steadman. They should be remembered and celebrated for their role in the history of space exploration.
It wasn’t until 2 decades later that Sally Ride became the first woman in space in 1983.
7 of the surviving members of the Mercury 13 are pictured below, 33 years later in 1995.
From the press release: “The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system. All of these seven planets could have liquid water – key to life as we know it – under the right atmospheric conditions, but the chances are highest with the three in the habitable zone.”
“nasa gone rogue” sounds like they’re stealing rockets and going to the moon illegally or something
but nope, “rogue” these days is a word that means “posting real climate change facts that your president doesn’t want you to know”
like if you support nasa posting real climate change facts that the orange dictator doesn’t want you to know. reblog if you support nasa stealing rockets and going to the moon illegally.
In light of threats to the National Park Service on Twitter, follow @AltUSNatParkSer on twitter for more of the National Park Service’s unexpected rebellion.
Steel Phoenix Studios 