House Honors Women of NASA

On September 20, the House approved, by voice vote, a resolution (H. Res. 450) recognizing the contributions of Space Shuttle Commander Eileen Collins, Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence, and all the other women who have worked with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

• Since NASA was created in 1958, women have worked to play a vital role in its missions in outer space;
• In 1983, Sally Ride was the first American woman to fly in outer space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger;
• Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to perform a space walk aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984;
• In 1992, Mae Jemison was the first African American woman to fly in outer space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor;
• Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a space mission when Space Shuttle Columbia deployed the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in 1999;
• We celebrate America’s Return to Flight with Space Shuttle Discovery’s STS-114 mission, which Eileen Collins commanded and on which Wendy Lawrence served as Mission Specialist; and
• Great strides have been made in the Space Shuttle and International Space Station era to increase the number and prominence of women serving in the NASA Astronaut Corp, thereby giving us hope for the future of American women in space.

Calling female astronauts “heroines” who “are not only a source of pride for all Americans, but…have also inspired countless women to reach for the stars in their own lives and careers,” Rep. Maloney stated, “Today our country faces an increasingly severe shortage of qualified math, science, and engineering students and professionals to fill the high-tech jobs of tomorrow. Women have long been underrepresented in these fields, both in the workplace and in the classroom. It is essential to our economy, even to our national security, that we attract the best and the brightest to these fields. The number of girls and young women entering math, science, and engineering is growing and moving in the right direction. And in our universities and workplaces, we need to cultivate nondiscriminatory environments to further this momentum. NASA truly showcases the very best of what women can achieve and can contribute, and the fact that they can contribute equally. May the women pioneers we honor today inspire not only the astronauts, but the scientists, mathematicians, and engineers of tomorrow.”

Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) said that the success of women astronauts “is due in part to the hard work of trailblazing women who came before them,” adding, “Elizabeth Blackwell, who was a resident of my native Cincinnati and the first American female medical doctor, once said, ‘For what is done or learned by one class of women becomes, by virtue of their common womanhood, the property of all women.’” She also noted that these women “are outstanding in their field, outstanding by virtue of what they have accomplished, not because they are women. They succeeded in fields traditionally dominated by men and inspired young girls around the country to succeed in their footsteps. It is for these future female leaders that we must continue to push the envelope and recognize those who came before them.”