From Valentina Tereškova to our own Samantha Cristoforetti, the astronauts who made history ...
The conquest of space is a dream that has been chasing for decades. Since the beginning of space exploration in 1957, about 600 people have visited space during missions sponsored by space agencies around the world or on private missions, of these 12% are women i.e. 72 cosmonauts and astronauts. About 75% are American, other are Soviet/Russian, European and Chinese. Behind the scenes, there are also many women mathematicians and engineers who have contributed to the initiation and advancement of space exploration.
Still low numbers, but in the latest European Space Agency selections 24 percent of the aspirants are women, "a higher fraction than in previous selections where we had a ratio of one to six to men," explains Ersilia Vaudo, ESA's chief diversity officer.
In the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union also measured themselves in the race for space achievements, which became symbolic not only of the scientific and engineering capabilities of the two nations but more importantly of the influence exerted on Earth and the power that came with it. The space race officially began with the launch of the Soviet Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957.
The Soviet Union collects several firsts in a few years sharpening its rivalry with the West. After the launch of the first launch vehicle, experiments with living beings aboard capsules begin. In 1957 the dog Laika is the first animal to orbit the earth aboard Sputnik 2 although it never returned. On April 12, 1961 aboard the Vostok 1 shuttle Jurij Gagarin is the first man to reach space. Two years later it was the turn of the first woman in space, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereškova who aboard the Volstok 6 shuttle made 49 orbits around the earth before landing in Kazakhstan.
American-made space exploration also began thanks to the work of women. Hired beginning in 1952, NASA mathematicians were employed on important tasks. In 1961 Katherine Johnson calculated by hand the trajectory of the first American in orbit, Alan Shepard, to ensure his safe re-entry. The trajectory calculations performed by Johnson, despite the advent of calculators, enabled America to reach the Soviet Union in 1962 with the mission of John Glenn, the first American astronaut to make a full orbit around the Earth.
In 1969 the United States overtook the Soviet Union by reaching Earth's satellite on July 20 with the famous Apollo 11 mission. Thanks to the work of Dr. Margaret Hamilton director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory who designed the on-board software for the Apollo program, Neil Armstrong was able to plow through the lunar soil. Katherine Johnson also did the calculations that allowed the Apollo 11 module to be synchronized with the one remaining in orbit and bring the mission to fruition.
With the propulsive thrust of the Cold War over, before we saw another woman in space we had to wait nearly 20 years when in 1982 Svetlana Savitskaya reached the Salyut 7 space station in the role of shipboard engineer, famous for being the first woman to perform a spacewalk.
The following year was the turn of the first U.S. astronaut, Sally Ride, who took part in two missions aboard the shuttle Challanger, participating in two firsts: the first mission to five and the first operation of the robotic arm for satellite release and recovery.
1991 is the year of the first British citizen in orbit Dr. Helen Sharman, a chemistry researcher, who stays aboard MIR the Russian space station for a week.
In 1992 aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour Mae Carol Jemison is the first African American woman to travel in space. In 1994 it is the turn of the third Russian cosmonaut, Elena Kondakova who stays in orbit aboard MIR for 178 days performing numerous experiments. She is the first woman to perform a long-duration mission in orbit.
Female astronauts are given increasingly important roles as the years go by. In 1995 Eileen M. Collins became the first woman Shuttle pilot and four years later the first woman Shuttle commander. Peggy Whitson, the first commander of the International Space Station during the 2008 Expedition 16 mission, with her 665 total days is the woman who has spent the most time in space.
Samantha Cristoforetti is the first Italian woman in the European Space Agency crews and commander of the ISS in 2022, the third in the world after two Americans, the first European woman to lead an Eve and the first European astronaut to lead it in the Russian Orlan space suit. With the 2014-2015 ISS Expedition 42-43 mission, AstroSamantha set the European female record for remaining in space on a single flight, 199 days 16 hours and 42 minutes, later surpassed in 2019 by fellow astronaut Christina Koch.
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