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Author
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Topic: Likelihood of all woman shuttle crew?
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ASCAN1984
Member Posts: 1049
From: County Down, Nothern Ireland
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-24-2006 03:32 AM
   
Will an all female space shuttle crew ever happen do you think? |
KSCartist
Member Posts: 2896
From: Titusville, FL USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 10-24-2006 05:24 AM
I honestly don't think so. Everyone would know that it was just a publicity stunt. Mixed genders is the way to go. Putting the right people for the right job should always be to goal. |
PowerCat
Member Posts: 193
From: Herington, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 10-24-2006 07:04 AM
I read somewhere once that STS-107 was being pushed for an all female crew. |
Danno
Member Posts: 572
From: Ridgecrest, CA - USA
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 10-24-2006 03:49 PM
I recall the Soviets trying to launch an all female Soyuz crew just before Sally Ride first flew. Trying the take the wind out of our sails I guess.I think there was even a Homer Hickam book that dealt with the first all female shuttle crew getting hijacked just before launch. Since there have been all male crews I don't see what the problem would be with an all female crew. There would probably be more talk with a crew of six women and one man.  |
goldbera
Member Posts: 25
From: Melbourne, FL
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 10-24-2006 04:27 PM
From what I remember reading a few years ago, the various astronauts who were thought to be part of such a mission thought it would be too much of a publicity stunt, and didn't like it. |
ea757grrl
Member Posts: 729
From: South Carolina
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 10-24-2006 08:02 PM
Philip Chien's "Columbia: Final Voyage," p. 3, devotes a paragraph to the proposal that STS-107 (the only all-science mission available at the time) be an all-female crew. To summarize, though there would have been a scientific angle, it would have been for added publicity. However, Chien notes that since only four crew members would be able to participate in invasive experiments such as blood draws (since mission rules prohibit the commander, pilot and flight engineer from such invasive experiments), there was no legitimate reason to fly the mission as an all-female crew, since only four members could take part in most of the research. Chien further notes that many of the female astronauts "were vehemently against the idea," having spent so much time in their training and careers having to prove they were the professional equals of men. To them, he notes, "The concept of getting assigned to a mission solely because they were female had all the marks of a quota system" (p. 3-4). Chien says the proposal quietly went away by summer 1999, opening the way for Israeli payload specialist Ilan Ramon. |
pokey
Member Posts: 361
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 10-24-2006 11:06 PM
I recall the all female crew being the idea of or being shopped around NASA HQ back in the mid 90s. Apparently it was run up the flag pole and there weren't any takers. |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3161
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-25-2006 12:40 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Danno:
I recall the Soviets trying to launch an all female Soyuz crew just before Sally Ride first flew.
That's correct, but it wasn't before Ride's first flight (in 1983). It was planned for late 1985-early 1986 — Savitskaya, Ivanova and Dobrokvashina, flying to Salyut 7. Cancelled due to problems with both the station and the prior crew.There has been one all-female crew spaceflight already, of course, Vostok 6. |
BMckay
Member Posts: 3219
From: MA, USA
Registered: Sep 2002
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posted 10-25-2006 08:14 AM
It would be a stunt but a neat one at that. You couldn't have that now anyway. Only one female pilot/commander available — Pam Melroy. Eileen Collins and Susan Kilrian are gone from the corps. It would have been nice to see a crew such as this: - Eileen Collins - commander
- Pam Melroy - pilot
- Tracy Caldwell - mission specialist
- Sandy Magnus - mission specialist
- Kay Hire - mission specialist
- Nicole Stott - mission specialist
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FFrench
Member Posts: 3161
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-25-2006 12:10 PM
There were also plans for an all-female Voskhod mission, Voskhod 5. In 1965 Ponomareva and Solovyova began training for a mission that would have had Solovyova make the first EVA by a woman. But in the end, only the first two Voskhod missions flew. |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 10-25-2006 01:07 PM
I hope NASA is well beyond any consideration of assigning an all-female crew. To do so would be to suggest there is merit in intentionally selecting a crew based on gender. As an organization that is often viewed as looking towards the future, NASA would be best served to be completely gender-blind in all future crew selections. |
astro-nut
Member Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 10-25-2006 02:34 PM
I remeber reading about an all female shuttle crew back in 1999 or 2000. I can't remember when, but I do remember the article saying that the flight was designated for STS-107/Columbia and that the possible commander and pilot would of have been Susan Still and Pam Melroy, respectively. Susan Still would be making her third flight and Pam Melroy would be making her second flight. Also considering that Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark probably would of have been assigned to the crew. I can't remember if it was to be a six or seven person crew. Those are possible four crew members for the flight, as for an additional females assigned to the possible crew I'm not sure who was? I think Chawla and Clark would of have been assigned to this crew since they were officially for the 107 crew. As far as any official crew assignments there was never anyone named for the female flight. I'm just posting what I remember reading from an article seven years ago and that this is all possibly who would of flown on the mission. The idea didn't receive much favor and didn't get much support. I would of liked to have seen an all female shuttle crew but it won't happen with limited flights left. |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 10-25-2006 02:45 PM
I don't have any knowledge of what may have been discussed at NASA regarding an all-female crew, but I suspect the first people to veto that idea would have been the female astronauts. I can't imagine any of them would have wanted to participate in such a flight, knowing how such a crew would be perceived the media and the public. |
WAWalsh
Member Posts: 809
From: Cortlandt Manor, NY
Registered: May 2000
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posted 10-31-2006 08:23 AM
I suspect everyone needs to look a little further into the future. Given the smaller crew and the greater duration issues, it is possible that one of the next lunar missions could involve an all-women crew. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 10-31-2006 02:26 PM
If there was some rationale for putting together an all-female crew, other than gender, then in my opinion, it could possibly happen. Take the Hubble repair mission recently announced. If the only commander available was Eileen Collins (because of her work with STS-93), the only pilot Susan Still (who did two science missions, STS-83 and -84) and — I know this is a stretch — Ride was still in the corps and they needed her work as an RMS operator, would there still be objections? |
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