Orbital Op Ed From Christina Koch and Jessica Meir
It’s tough being small in a big-suit world. We still spacewalked., Op Ed, Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, Washington Post
“One could say that the first all-female spacewalk was worth celebrating simply because it overcame history. It was the story of two girls who gazed at the stars with an improbable dream, who as women were given the “go” to egress the airlock. But there’s more than that. The real achievement is the collective acknowledgment that it is no longer okay to move forward without everyone moving together. NASA’s mission is to answer humanity’s call to explore. If there is any part of humanity that’s not on that journey, we are not achieving our mission. The efforts to equalize exploration are what really ought to be celebrated. … We are entering a new era where we must commit to go boldly only if that means we all go, an era in which any person who dares to dream will have the opportunity to contribute. Our successes will be greater because not a single innovative idea will be turned away — that is what diversity and inclusion mean. And that is why a long-overdue all-female spacewalk so captivated the world it served.”
Absolutely! If HUMANITY is to go off this planet, to LEO, to Luna, to Mars and to the stars, all aspects of humanity must go, male, female, all races, creeds and ethnic origins. In the short term, however, that should not mean pushing diversity SOLELY for the sake of diversity. That does NOT mean we should exclude anyone. But, for the short term, it means finding whoever is best qualified to do whatever jobs there are, regardless of sex, etc. In this case, those specialists happen to be two females, and there is NO QUESTION they did the job excellently, as professionals do, and on short notice when their original tasks had to be postponed so they could fix a critical equipment failure. Fortunately, the right equipment (EVA suits) were available..finally!
It also means having equipment suitable for the “3-sigma” body sizes, shapes and physiology! Failure to do that could lead to disaster! For example, suppose there is an emergency requiring two…or MORE…astronauts to do an EVA at the ISS or on the surface of the Moon, and there aren’t enough suits of the size to equip the personnel to do whatever has to be done! Better have enough suits or tools or whatever to equip everybody, plus spares.
Ad LEO! Ad Luna! Ad Ares! AD ASTRA!
So…we’re supposed to support a program that will send a (very) few elite government employees to the Moon? What’s NASA doing to ensure that “we all go”? Or does our “opportunity to contribute” mean that we contribute our tax dollars and cheer those few elites who do get to go (with taxpayers footing the bill)? Sorry, but I’d rather support SpaceX and Blue Origin. If they’re successful then at least we’ll have an opportunity to save up for a ticket and finance our own rides into space.
That’s not how I read this op-ed. NASA’s approach might limit opportunities to a small or “elite” group. And it’s fine to complain about that. But the op-ed sounded more about how that group should be selected, not how big it should be. However big or large, the people exploring space should not be disqualified for irrelevant reasons. Female gender and small physical size aren’t relevant (unless you consider it a qualification based on mass and metabolic rate.) That EVA is a sign NASA is getting over irrelevant qualifications. How can that be a bad thing?
As I posted above, crew selection should be on the basis of qualification to do the tasks required, regardless. It’s what’s between your ears, not other body parts that count! (In one science fiction story I once read, “little people” were hired to build a space station because they could get into corners that “regular sized” people couldn’t fit into!)
Until we can send 100 people to the Moon or Mars at once, there is going to be a selective process, and you are not going to be totally diverse!
Of course, if NASA is going to get anybody near the Moon, a certain bunch of characters, male and female, atop Capitol Hill are going to have to pass a real appropriation bill, NOT a continuing resolution!
> if NASA is going to get anybody near the Moon, >a certain bunch of characters
Yes, back in the days it was not people like Schirra, Borman, Armstrong that got us to the moon but those like Webb, Low, Gilruth.