Women in Space
Overview
In 1903, the historic flight of the Wright brothers ushered in a new era, not just in transportation, but also in lifestyle, adventure, and science. When American Bessica Raiche made a solo flight in 1910 using the aircraft she and husband François built, she opened the skies for future women aviators. By the time the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was chartered in the United States in July 1958, women were a fixture in aeronautical circles—not just in support roles, but as pioneers in astronomics, engineering, and mathematics. In 1963, when Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (1937- ) left Earth aboard the Vostok 6, she became the first woman in space, forever changing the destiny of women.
Background
Before the end of the nineteenth century, three women astronomers had made significant contributions to the science that would eventually lead mankind into space. The first, Maria Mitchell (1818-1889), discovered a comet in 1847 and became a professor of astronomy and director of the Vassar College observatory in 1865. The second, Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921), devised a method to measure the distances of stars from the Earth with stars in other galaxies. Her photographic measurements, key to determining astronomical distances, were known as the Harvard Standard and were accepted among the world's astronomers.
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