161. Inclusion and Environmental Protection in Space
- Author:
- Tony Milligan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Brown Journal of World Affairs
- Institution:
- Brown Journal of World Affairs
- Abstract:
- A push for inclusion has been one of the most striking features of space programs in recent years, with a diverse range of agents going up to the Inter- national Space Station. NASA has been promoting the recognition of the early, but hidden, role of black scientists such as Katherine Johnson within its pro- grams of the 1960s (Johnson was celebrated in the 2016 7lm Hidden Figures).1 Beyond this, private sector activities are emerging with some built-in elements of inclusion. In 2021, Wally Funk fially could make it into space on a private sector Blue Origin suborbital flight, 60 years after being part of the privately trained female Mercury 13 group. These women were not part of the official NASA program, and they never made it into space, despite public criticism and the advantages of sending women in the cramped capsules given their generally smaller size. The women had what Margaret Weitekamp has referred to as “right stu:, wrong sex.”2
- Topic:
- Environment, Women, Space, Inclusion, and Protection
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus