schuh@fluke.UUCP (Michael L. Schuh) (10/05/84)
[stay tuned for our next episode of 'Line-eating Bugs in Space']
We had some discussion in this news group recently about when will a woman
be the pilot of a shuttle mission. Apparently it will be a while. My
question is: when will there be a mission comprised of just women? It would
be only fair, given the number of all male flight crews to date (BTW it
wasn't until June of this year that commercial aviation had its first all
female cockpit crew - definitely a ways to go).
Thinking about unmixed flight crews leads to another question: what effect
will this have on 'space sickness'? (I could also ask about problems with
the toilet...) Some time ago I read a minor newspaper article about space
sickness on shuttle flights. It seems that only two shuttle flights were
without sickness related problems: the two with women on board. The theory
was that perhaps the men were reluctant to show any apparent signs of
weakness with any women around. Perhaps this applied to the two women as
well. So here's my question: Would an all women crew exhibit symptoms of
space sickness? Or are women just not as susceptible as men to orbital
nausea? (Which is the stronger sex, etc... does this belong in net.women?)
My on going thanks to Roger Noe for his keeping us informed.
Mike Schuh - ms274G- John Fluke Mfg Co - Box C9090 - Everett WA 98206 USA
{{decvax,tektronix}!uw-beaver,microsoft,allegra,ssc-vax,sun,sb1}!fluke!schuh
P.S. Saw the current mission take off an hour and a half ago - why can't the
launches be at 7:03 am PDT?rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (Roger Noe) (10/10/84)
> when will there be a mission comprised of just women? Since it will be at least five years until we see a female shuttle pilot and even longer until a female mission commander and you need to have one of each for any shuttle mission AND you will then need to have NASA make a conscious decision to put together an all-female crew I would say such a thing might happen around NASA's centennial. Never underestimate a government administration which could be pressured by the Women's Christian Temperance Union to exclude table wine from the Skylab food stores. (I'm not being critical, I think it's humorous.) > It seems that only two shuttle flights were without [space adaptation > syndrome] related problems: the two with women on board. Even if this is true (I don't know), what about the Skylab astronauts that never experienced the syndrome? No, I'd bet that any SAS experienced is peculiar to the individual and that crewmates have little effect on this. > Would an all women crew exhibit symptoms of space sickness? > Or are women just not as susceptible as men to orbital nausea? > My on going thanks to Roger Noe for his keeping us informed. > Mike Schuh We don't have much data for women astronauts yet, so it's hard to speculate about the first two questions. Of course, when you have a group of women working very closely together for as long as a shuttle crew does, being sequestered together for a week before launch and living together in the spacecraft for a week, you would expect some alignment of certain other medical functions, but this really does belong in net.women. With luck it won't happen during the mission itself. Glad to know I am of service, Mike. Please let me know if you have any other questions. -- "It's only by NOT taking the human race seriously that I retain what fragments of my once considerable mental powers I still possess." Roger Noe ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
alb@brunix.UUCP (Adam Buchsbaum) (10/17/84)
The reason the women on board the shuttle were on board was because they were the right people for the job that they had to do. They were not on board so NASA could say it is an equal opportunity employer, and I'm sure they would take offense if you suggested they were. Simply put, they were there because they were needed. Just because it may ''seem only fair'' that NASA send up an all-women crew, that is not the way to run a space shuttle mission. The shuttle has a purpose, be it to launch satellite, carry on research, etc., and its crew is picked so that it can best carry out that purpose.
hawk@oliven.UUCP (Rick) (10/25/84)
>The reason the women on board the shuttle were on board was >because they were the right people for the job that they had >to do. Gosh, I thought it was because astronauts on preveious flights had complained about the food and the dirty floors! :-):-):-) rick