First humans to walk on Mars, the Moon again will most likely be women: NASA

Women make up 34% of NASA's astronauts today – a long way from a truly gender-equal scenario.

Tech2 News Staff|Mar 13, 2019, 19:19:07 IST

Most things may not be working in the favour of women here on Earth, but the future sure does look promising up in space!Later this month, history will be made as two female American astronauts become the first to carry out an "all-woman spacewalk". The spacewalk will be on 29 March, coincidentally falling at the end of National Women's Month in the US.NASA's missions and ranks today may be inching closer to some semblance of equality, but Hidden Figures depicted better than anyone how different the reality was during the Apollo moon missions.[caption id="attachment_6065201" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine speaking at the Johnson Space Center in Houston in August 2018. Image credit: NASA[/caption]Today, women make up 34 percent of NASA's astronaut roster, and while there's still a while to go before the balance is nearly equal, it has come a long, long way.The agency's top boss, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, doesn't just think its time for women to walk on the moon. In a recent interview with Science Friday, he said, "it's likely to be a woman, the first next person on the Moon."

He also went on to say that Mars might have the same honour – the first human feet to touch Martian ground could be a woman's."(It’s) true that the first person on Mars is likely to be a woman. So these are great days. NASA is committed to making sure that we have a broad and diverse set of talent," Bridenstine told Science Friday.Among other subjects, he also shared his views on climate change, a NASA Space Force and the critical role plant science plays for NASA.

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