science

One small step for women: NASA boss hints first astronaut on Mars will be female


After the first all-female spacewalk took place outside of the International Space Station (ISS) NASA chief administrator Jim Bridenstine praised the role women have had in the space agency’s achievements and said he believed the first humans to get to Mars could be women. On Friday, October 19, NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir became the first women to complete an all-female space walk. The pair were tasked with replacing an ISS power controller that had failed. After the historic mission Mr Bridenstine said: “We could very well see the first person on Mars be a woman.

“I think that could very well be a milestone.

“If my 11-year-old daughter has her way, we’ll have a woman on Mars in the not-too-distant future.”

NASA’s first mission will see them place humans back on the Moon for the first time since 1972.

The space agency has decided it has unfinished business on our lunar satellite and wants to set up a permanent base on the Moon, with the missions hopefully taking place in 2024.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made the announcement that he wants to set up a lunar colony and called on “the best and brightest of American industry to help design and develop “human lunar landers”.

The base would be used as a checkpoint between Earth and Mars while also allowing astronauts to study the Moon in close detail.

Just last week, the space agency unveiled the spacesuits which astronauts will wear as they begin to colonise the lunar surface.

One of the suits is white, with red and blue sleeves in true American fashion, and will be vital for humans tasked with setting up the first Moon base as part of the Artemis – who in Greek mythology is the twin sister of Apollo – mission.

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xEMU is much more flexible than the previous rigid suits which astronauts have previously warned, allowing them to walk, rather than hop, across the lunar surface.

Ms Ross continued: “We have a lot more mobility in the lower torso. So you have a waist bearing and we have three bearings on the legs as well as a flexion extension joint at the waist.

“That gives the astronaut a lot of capability to move around and do whatever tasks we might need to do for science and maintenance on a planetary surface.”



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