Maybe this is why it took women so long to go where no man has gone before.
In NASA’s defense, it’s come a long way.
Last month NASA announced its new team of eight trainee astronauts, including four women. That means 50 percent are women — the highest percentage ever picked by NASA for a class of astronaut candidates.
This isn’t the first time NASA has benefited from the work of amazing women innovators, astronomers, and scientists. The trainees are following in the footsteps of inspiring women like Nancy Grace Roman, the first woman to hold an executive position at NASA. Or Judith Resnik, who received an AAUW fellowship and went on to become the second American woman in space. Or Mae Jemison, a physician and science mission specialist for the Endeavour and the first African American woman in space.These women not only succeeded in establishing themselves in a male-dominated field where women were not always welcome, but they also paved the way for the astronomers of today and tomorrow.