A top NASA official has shared his belief that the first person to ever set foot on the Red Planet will probably be a woman.
From 1969 to 1972, 12 men have had their names etched in history, becoming the only humans to walk the lunar surface of our Moon. Fast forward to now and NASA wants to get the first woman not only to the Moon, but also to Mars.
More than 50 years after the historic first steps on the Moon, NASA has pledged it will launch some more lucky astronauts to the distant rock by the year 2024. The mission, named the ‘Artemis Program’, makes up the agency’s goal to establish a permanent human presence on and around the Moon.
The new suits made for the mission for example will allow astronauts to walk more freely on the surface and explore far colder portions of the Moon in order to hopefully find signs of life and therefore potential for human settlement. It is promised during this mission, the first woman will be put on the Moon. After all, the new suits are designed to fit both men and women.
Not only that, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has gone on record as saying he believes the first person on Mars will be a woman.
According to Space.com: “We could very well see the first person on Mars be a woman,” Bridenstine told reporters on Friday (October 18) during a news conference about the first all-woman spacewalk. “I think that could very well be a milestone,” he added.
“If my 11-year-old daughter has her way, we’ll have a woman on Mars in the not-too-distant future,” Bridenstine said, adding that whoever ends up going to Mars is probably too young to have already been selected to join NASA’s astronaut corps at this time.
The aspiration comes as the first all-female spacewalk was recently completed. Jessica Meir and Christina Koch ventured out of the relative safety of the International Space Station and performed key repairs to the exterior of the craft.
For the first time in our nation’s history, an all-female crew walked in space today. It’s more than historic—it’s a reminder that for women, even the sky doesn’t have to be the limit. https://t.co/qmqypruQ7O
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) 18 October 2019
