The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Women in Nasa History: "Are There 100 Tampons for a Week in Space?"

2019-10-19T14:58:37.826Z


For the first time there was a purely female outdoor use on the ISS, long completely neglected the NASA astronauts: The US authority once developed make-up pouches for space - but long no suitable suits.



Electrical engineer Christina Koch and biologist Jessica Meir repaired a current regulator on the outer wall of the ISS: Two women performed an outdoor mission on the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday - for the first time without any male escort.

That this is a novelty, already tells a lot about the state of equal rights in general and concrete about the image of women Nasa. In fact, when dealing with female astronauts, the US agency has a long history of hard-line discrimination and absurd obesity:

For example, the first purely female outdoor use was originally planned to take place in March. However, he had to be canceled at short notice. The problem: There was only one suit on the International Space Station. The others were too tall for the astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain. McClain therefore had to stay inside, astronaut Nick Hague took over in its place. The smallest sizes S and XS were already deleted in space suits in the nineties, too expensive. The smallest size is now M.

"Make a second suit"

The incident was particularly embarrassing, as NASA had announced the first outdoor use of a purely female team big. Former US Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton then called in the short message service Twitter: "Make a second suit." The suit breakdown is just one example of how Nasa has neglected the female anatomy - with sometimes bizarre episodes.

Originally, Nasa did not want to send women into space at all. First, only test pilots of the military were allowed to apply as an astronaut, women were not allowed to do this job. When NASA decided in the 1970s to admit applicants, she apparently wanted to make the astronauts as comfortable as possible:

In 1987 NASA engineers designed a make-up case, including lip gloss and eye shadow. "The NASA engineers, in their infinite wisdom, decided that female astronauts would want make-up," said Sally Ride, who was the first woman to leave Nasa in 1983. "One can imagine the discussions among the predominantly male engineers about what should go in there."

Sally Ride: "The engineers at NASA, in their infinite wisdom, decided that women astronauts would make makeup ... you can just imagine the discussions among the predominantly male engineers about what should go on in a makeup kit . " #RideOn # Classof78 pic.twitter.com/dNZ51cWELH

- NASA History Office (@NASAhistory) January 16, 2018

The paraphernalia did not make it into the standard equipment of astronauts. Ride, however, also experienced other absurdities. For example, she was asked if 100 tampons were enough for a week in space. (For those who do not know the answer: That's enough. Please read.)

Astronauts on the ISS may not even need tampons: because the cast drinks their reprocessed urine, women usually get hormones that suppress the menstrual period. This prevents the urine from becoming contaminated and becoming inedible.

However, there were some adjustments with the women in space: the astronauts on the ISS, for example, owe them toilets. The first astronauts still urinated in tubes, which they put over their penis, even for bowel movements there were only bags.

In the meantime, the sex ratio in Nasa is more balanced. Twelve of the 38 astronauts are women, which makes up a quota of 30 percent. In addition, US President Donald Trump insists that in five years, the first woman to the moon flies - and here is a man to fly.

The suit problem seems solved at least for the moon mission. Although the suits are still not ready for use, mid-week NASA already presented a first model of a new space suit - in one size. He was demonstratively demonstrated by a woman: NASA engineer Kristine Davis.

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2019-10-19

You may like

Trends 24h

Tech/Game 2024-03-27T18:05:36.686Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.