Sexists jibs on scraping all women spacewalk, NASA asks “What is deal” with defensive stance

NewsBharati    28-Mar-2019
Total Views |



Washington, Mar 28: NASA’s All women spacewalk is one of the most exciting things in every girl who dreamed about space but shockingly, NASA scrapped that spacewalk with ‘lame’ reason of problem with spacesuits.

On Friday, March 29, Christina Koch and Anne McClain were scheduled to perform a spacewalk together to upgrade the power systems of the International Space Station. It would have been the first all-female spacewalk in human history. While disappointing to many people, after the last spacewalk was completed on March 22, NASA changed the assignments to protect the safety of the crew and the timing of the mission. Now, Christina Koch and Nick Hague will be performing this upcoming spacewalk.

 

On this incident, Space fans and feminists alike denounced the decision to cancel the all-women spacewalk, seeing implicit sexism in traditionally male-dominated NASA's failure to be adequately prepared for both women to venture out into space together.

"Make another suit," former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Twitter.


Julie Cohen, director, and producer stated, "C'mon NASA...? We can send a man to the moon, but we can't assemble two lady-sized spacesuits?

The spacesuits aboard the ISS are in fact assemblies of several parts put together as best adapted to each astronaut's body. Two hard upper torso parts in each of the three available spacesuit sizes are currently held at the ISS: medium, large and extra large

But only one medium and one extra-large hard upper torso parts are currently operational. The others are spare parts that require a 12-hour assembly, according to NASA.

"Twelve additional hours of crew time would mean delaying the date of the spacewalk, which would be difficult with the station's schedule for cargo vehicles and adding additional stress to the crew's schedule," said NASA spokeswoman Brandi Dean.

She also stressed that "the original pairing was not intentionally planned to bring about the first all-female spacewalk, it was just the way it worked out."

McClain also took the side of NASA.

"This decision was based on my recommendation," she tweeted.

"Leaders must make tough calls, and I am fortunate to work with a team who trusts my judgment. We must never accept a risk that can instead be mitigated. Safety of the crew and execution of the mission come first."