1. Mixed Feelings About This
I heartily congratulate Jessica Meir and Christina Koch for their terrific accomplishment and being an inspiration to little girls. Anything that reinforces "women can do anything" is good.
I heartily congratulate Jessica Meir and Christina Koch for their terrific accomplishment and being an inspiration to little girls. Anything that reinforces "women can do anything" is good.
2. On a personal note, I have an emotional link to NASA and especially women astronauts in NASA.
Kalpana Chawla was an American astronaut, engineer, and the first woman of Indian descent to go to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997. In 2003.
Kalpana Chawla was an American astronaut, engineer, and the first woman of Indian descent to go to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997. In 2003.
3. On Feb 1, 2003, Kalpana Chawla perished, along with six other colleagues, when space shuttle Columbia blew up upon re-entry, after a 16-day flight.
This image of the STS-107 shuttle Columbia crew in orbit was recovered from wreckage inside an undeveloped film canister.
This image of the STS-107 shuttle Columbia crew in orbit was recovered from wreckage inside an undeveloped film canister.
4. I knew Kalpana Chawla. We were together in the same engineering college, where she studied Aeronautical Engineering, for a while. Women engineers were a rarity. She was the only girl in her class, one of the very few in the whole college. What she accomplished is beyond words.
5. The first house I bought and lived in after immigrating to the United States was in a new development where every street was named after one of the crew members who died in Space Shuttle Challenger when it broke apart 73 seconds into its flight.
6. So I appreciate, relate to, and applaud Jessica and Christina's accomplishment, but also feel like some of the ways in which their accomplishment is being reported is a bit condescending. I can't help feeling that they themselves might be feeling a little embarrassed secretly.
7. You see neither one of them is the 'first woman' to spacewalk, but together they are the 'first women' to do so. The first woman to spacewalk was Savitskaya, who did it on July 25, 1984. It's just that the colleague she did it with was a man, Vladimir Dzhanibekov.
8. So while we joyfully celebrate Jessica and Christina's accomplishment, I just had the urge to also acknowledge and recognize Savitskaya, because I am sure Jessica and Christina do.
The End
The End
Typo. Scratch 'In 2003.'
