On Friday, 18th October 2019, Jessica Meir and Christina Koch successfully conducted the first all-female spacewalk outside of the international space station. Stephanie Wilson, who previously spent 42 days in space over 3 spaceflights, was the voice from Mission Control.
"We are trending in the right direction," Meir said. "There are more females and more diversity in general in STEM fields that has led to a higher percentage of women in astronaut classes.To me, that kind of gender equality and inclusion is the way to get the job done for a successful mission."
The first woman to conduct a spacewalk was Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya in 1984, followed closely by NASA astronaut Kathy Sullivan.Twelve US women have conducted 40 spacewalks over the past 35 years. Koch and Meir were the 13th and 14th, respectively. Speaking of the women whose legacies paved the way for the historic spacewalk, Koch said "we pay homage to the fact that they allowed us to achieve the dreams that we have."
In her high school yearbook, Jessica Meir wrote "go for a spacewalk" on the list of her plans for the future, Before she created her high school yearbook list of future plans, Meir was dreaming of being an astronaut in first grade. She drew a picture of herself standing on the moon. She can check "becoming an astronaut" and "going for a spacewalk" off her "future plans" list from high school. "Go to the moon" is still there. "I think I'll make that my next dream," Meir said.
Koch, Meir and Wilson are all included in the list of 12 women that could be the first female astronaut on the moon in 2024. Although they don't know about the details of the selection process, the women agreed that the honor of being the first woman on the moon would be overwhelming.
One of these 12 women astronauts will go to the moon
"I will probably at least know the first woman to walk on the moon," Koch said. "They will carry the hopes and dreams of everyone to explore with them."
NASA Administrator, Jim Bridenstine, also acknowledged the importance of putting a woman on the moon in terms of inspiring future generations. "I've got an 11-year-old daughter and I want her to see herself as having every opportunity that I saw myself having when I was growing up," he said.
As a student, Jessica Meir knew what she wanted to do. Did you? And have you achieved it?
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/21/world/nasa-all-female-spacewalk-reflections-scn-trnd/index.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/18/world/stephanie-wilson-female-spacewalk-scn-trnd/index.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/21/tech/nasa-moon-female-astronaut/index.html