NASA considers female science team for shuttle

March 8, 1999
by Paul Hoversten

John Glenn, move over.

NASA is considering flying an all-female science team on a future space shuttle mission to do for women's health issues what the 77-year-old retired Ohio senator did for the geriatric set.

NASA Astronaut Eileen Collins

Three to five women, who are either astronauts or scientists, would be part of a seven-member shuttle crew that would measure how female bodies adapt to weightlessness, how much bones and muscles change and whether hormonal levels fluctuate.

If approved, the mission would have the most women on a single flight in nearly 40 years of space exploration. Men probably would command and pilot the shuttle.

The plan is under review at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Scientists inside and outside NASA must approve the mission before the space agency will commit to a flight. No dates for a mission have been set.

	What criteria would NASA use to determine who would be eligible to participate in the all-female space mission? What specific research would be conducted? Try it! In groups of five, choose several articles in USA TODAY that report on initiatives or research that would benefit from an all-female space mission. Choose the three you think most important, and write a journal entry from the point of view of one of the crew members (either on the female research team or the male command) describing what your role will be during the mission. What do you hope to learn? What difficulties might you encounter? As a group, come to consensus on the most important research issue from the standpoint of women.

"For too long, scientists have neglected women," Peggy Wilhide, NASA's associate administrator for public affairs, says. "Science has assumed that research on males equals research on females, and we know that isn't the case."

A flight featuring all female test subjects also might be inspiring to girls who want to study math or science, she says.

"John Glenn's flight was not a stunt, and if we do this one, it will not be a stunt," Wilhide says.

Glenn's medical tests from space, to learn how weightlessness affects aging bodies, still are under review.

The idea has supporters and critics, some at the same time.

Sherry Marts, scientific director of the nonprofit Society for the Advancement of Women's Health Research in Washington, D.C., says too many lab studies have paid too little attention to the unique physical makeup of women.

The assumption has been "that women are just small men with slightly different plumbing," Marts says. "But we know there are all sorts of differences, and exploring those can lead to some breakthroughs."

Scientists still don't know, for example, why women tend to develop heart disease after menopause or why men and women react differently to certain drugs.

But Marts says the mission would be a mistake if it exploits women for merely political or public relations reasons.

"My fear is, this (flight) would be just a feel-good mission," she says. "It may be that now that they've sent a senior citizen into space, it's time to send some women."

Nearly three dozen women have flown since NASA began accepting women to fly in space in 1978. Of the current class of 144 shuttle astronauts, 32 are women. Of those, only two are shuttle pilots and one a commander, the highest rank.

Eileen Collins is set to command the space shuttle Columbia in July, when an X-ray telescope will be hauled into orbit.