Historic all-woman space flight to include Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez
This sexist article is so patronizing.
Blue Origin says its next spaceflight is set to make history.
With celebrities such as Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez and Gayle King on board, the all-woman crew will fly into space when the New Shepard spacecraft launches from the West Texas desert this spring. The company says it’s the first all-woman flight since the Soviet Union’s Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.
Women have gone to space, so the only notable difference is that no men will be present. It is only historic if there is some sense that men possess a unique ability that is critical to mission success.
Is there a concern that the group of women will get hysterical without a guy to mansplain, kill a spider or catch them when they swoon?
Also, they aren’t crew. Sally Ride has a PhD in Physics, and was the first woman on the crew of a space shuttle. Judith A. Resnik had a PhD in Electrical Engineering, and died as crew when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. Christa McAuliffe was a teacher, chosen from amongst 11,000 applicants, to be aboard the Challenger mission. It could be argued that she was a passenger, and not crew, but she did take a year-long leave of absence to be trained.
Katy Perry and the rest of the girls aren’t crew, but space tourists. They have no role in the operation of the flight.
“This flight will undoubtedly prove to be a life-changing experience for each of us, and I’m honored to be with such an incredible group of explorers,” said Sánchez, fiancee of Bezos, who pulled the flight crew together. “Most importantly, I am looking forward to all the women in this crew sharing their story and inspiring future generations to dream big.”
Space flight is dangerous, but they are not explorers any more than passengers on a white water rafting trip are explorers.
Lauren Sánchez will have no more opportunity to explore, than the first female in space had in 1957. Both were “spam in a can”, with no ability to control the mission. Honestly, Laika is cuter.
Sánchez and the other passengers have courage because they will probably return safely, but there is a non-trivial possibility that they won’t. Dogs don’t think that way, so Laika didn’t know that there was no provision for her return. Sánchez enjoys novel experiences and attention. Laika probably felt the same way.
It speaks well of the Russian scientists that, the day before the flight, they took Laika outside to play and enjoy the day because they knew she wasn’t coming back.
It might be worse that, Sánchez, fiancee of the third richest person in the world, thinks that this girl’s club in space, is inspirational. She may be inspiring future generations to talk big, but what is her message? Get your tit’s done and marry a rich guy.
Since they aren’t crew, but passengers on an automated flight, women would need to be physiologically different from men for this to be newsworthy or inspirational. It could be inspiring that one passenger, Gayle King, is going into space at 70 years old. No one doubts that old age introduces physical differences.
That barrier was broken four years ago when, at 90, William Shatner becomes the oldest person to reach ‘the final frontier.’
Mr. Shatner’s voyage came hot on the heels of one by Wally Funk, who at 82 was the oldest person to travel to space when she took part in a Blue Origin flight in July with Jeff Bezos, the company’s owner.
Shatner flew on the same type spacecraft as the hen party will fly on. Wally Funk, an 82 year old woman did too.
This upcoming Blue Origin flight is not historic, newsworthy or noteworthy in any sense. It is mildly interesting because Katy Perry is going, and she used to be cute. Lauren Sánchez put this flight together as a publicity stunt, and is banking on Grrl Power! to get attention.
If a bunch of women don’t need no man to go into space, why not send Hooters girls?
The company is closing restaurants, so there would be plenty of women to choose from, and they would appreciate the work. The press coverage practically writes itself.
