#GAReads | Trump's moon shot might be steered by a woman, says Nasa chief
photo credit: MKcray [GFDL or CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
"Trump's moon shot might be steered by a woman, says Nasa chief":
In the early 1960s Nasa sent out rejection letters saying it had no plans to send women into space. Among those who apparently received the brush-off was a teenage Hillary Clinton. But the agency has since changed its tune, and in 1983 Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. In 2013 Nasa announced that half of its new class of eight astronauts were women – a first for the agency.
The gender split among astronauts means the first step taken on the Moon since the 1970s might well be by a woman. “About a third of our active astronauts are women, so chances are at least a third,” said Ochoa, a former astronaut.