In what is sure to be one elephantine leap for humankind , the read/write head of NASA has announced that the first spaceman to set ft on Mars is “ potential to be ” distaff . AsCNNreports , NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made the comment while come out as a client on a late episode ofScience Friday , a skill and engineering radio show .
At one item in the conversation , Bridenstine field a query from Grab Your Wallet Alliance co - founder Shannon Coulter , who ask in a tweet whether a woman would be involve in the next Moon landing place , which could occur in2028 , if NASA gets its compliments .
“ The solution is absolutely , ” Bridenstineanswered . “ In fact , it ’s probable to be a woman — the first next person on the Moon . It ’s also true that the first person on Mars is likely to be a womanhood . ”
It is too early to tell which distaff astronauts might be eligible for the Mars mission , which is tentativelyscheduledfor the 2030s . However , Bridenstine read the space agency is confide to have a “ broad and divers set of talent . ” Currently , 34 percentage of active NASA astronauts are women . While the sexuality gap has not yet been close , it ’s still a significant alteration from 1978 , when six women ( includingSally Ride ) became the first American distaff spaceman . In addition , woman comprised half of the 2013astronaut classandfive of 12astronauts in the 2017 course of instruction , as well as half of the most recent class of flight of stairs directors .
The first all - female spacewalk will take place on March 29 , round out out National Women ’s History Month . AstronautsAnne McClain and Christina Koch will be aid by flight directors Mary Lawrence and Kristen Facciol on the ground during the roughly seven - hour spacewalk . These events typically call for build fixing to the International Space Station — a job that has traditionally been undertaken by valet .
[ h / tCNN ]
