Today, August 29, the first stage was launched Artemis Program, which will return people to the moon. For the moment, the ship will sail without a crew, but it will make the same journey that, in a few years, the lucky astronauts who will be able to walk on our satellite will again undertake. For this reason, the media headlines have been repeating for several days about the imminent the return of mankind to the moon. In part, they are not much different from those that could be read in 1969. However, there is a big difference: then they talked about man’s arrival on the moon. Why are we talking about humanity now?
There are several reasons. First, because it is expected that in this case the first step on the moon will make woman. It is not yet clear who will be chosen as an astronaut. But it is likely that, although the team will be mixed, a woman will be chosen to replicate what she once did. Neil Armstrong.
But, secondly, because not only people who set foot on it travel on the Moon. Even in 1969, when three men went to our satellite on board apollo 11there was many women behind his feat. A host of mathematicians and engineers helped calculate the ship’s trajectory or program its operating system, among other tasks. It is much more reasonable to talk about humanity, because not only man has achieved it. However, a dilemma may arise in this regard.
Man as a synonym for humanity
According to the first definition of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), a person is any “Be intelligent, animated, male or female”. Since the description of “man” as a “reasonable animal” is attributed to Aristotlemay be considered somewhat archaic.
Nevertheless, being included in the RAE, we cannot consider the assertion that man has reached the Moon to be false. At least not linguistically. But language develops and the RAE tend to adapt to it, sometimes much faster, others make them wait a long time. Few people today know this statement of the RAE, because humanity considers itself to be much more diverse. The evolution of language makes us think only of individuals when we talk about men. male gender. On the other hand, humanity includes men, women and non-binary people.
When this female astronaut sets foot on the moon again, as Neil Armstrong did, we will all be the ones who made it this far. Because the purpose of such missions is for the population to perceive them as own successes. In fact, as with other NASA missions, any citizen could submit their name to get on board the ship.
women who have walked on the moon
at the moment, twelve people They flew straight to the moon. All mans. However, behind his feat is the work of many women.
Fortunately, this is not a mystery for the population, due to the fact that the stories of some of them are even filmed. The film is a good example of this. hidden figures, which describes the story NASA calculators. It was a group of African-American women who were hired as cheap labor to do the calculations. They were highly qualified mathematicians and engineers. But also black women, so they didn’t have to pay much.
Among them was Katherine Johnsonwho refused to be just another calculator and persisted until he proved his worth to the group of scientists who performed the calculations Apollo 11 trajectory.
Also important was the role Margaret Hamilton. This computer scientist worked on the development Apollo mission operating system and especially contributed to the achievement of the exception system and asynchronous loading. As a result, the moon landings were successful and without incident. All this was due to the excellent work that can be seen in one of his most iconic photographs. In it, Margaret is seen next to a stack of books, which is nothing more than all the operating system code printed in twelve books.
And what about Joanne Morgan? For many years, she was the only female engineer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. And it was for this reason that he was also the only woman in the control room the day Apollo 11 was sent to the moon. For this reason, she also has a very iconic image of her surrounded by men in said room.
Who will be the first woman on the Artemis team?
In 2019 NASA Administrator, Jim Bridenstine, said that the first woman on the moon would be one of those who were already part of the space agency’s astronaut corps. In addition, it must be someone who has already visited the International Space Station. What, judging by what they say from space.comreduced opportunities to ten women: Christina Koch, Anne McClain, Jessica Meir, Sunita Williams, Serena Auñón-Chancellor, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Kate Rubins, Shannon Walker, Stephanie Wilson and Megan MacArthur.
Of all these, the candidate that is in the most pools is Christina Koch. This is a woman who has spent more days in space, with a track record 328 days. He was also part of Jessica Meir the first female spacewalk. She is a true trailblazer who has been able to keep breaking records thanks to the Artemis program. Although we don’t know it yet. We will have to go step by step and wait first to see how this first phase unfolds, in which all of humanity will be a little closer to the Moon.
Source: Hiper Textual
