Above is a picture of two astronauts.
Sally Ride, a physicist, educator and, famously, the first American woman in space, Sally Ride is an icon. In June 1983, she rode the Challenger shuttle for Mission STS-7. She worked on a robotic arm that delivered satellites to space. Back on Earth, Ride pursued efforts to include more girls in math and science and ushered in the next generation of women in space.
Dr. Mae C. Jemison is a doctor, engineer, physicist and astronaut who became the first African American woman to travel into space. In 1992, she rode Endeavor for the STS-47 mission Spacelab-J, a cooperative mission between the United States and Japan. The eight-day flight involved microgravity investigations in materials and life sciences. In the years since, she has taught at universities, continued a medical career and advocated for diversity and inclusion in leadership and STEM fields.
Bar two of the women, the ladies who went up in BlueOrigin NS-31 are celebrities who went for a 10 minute ride in low orbit. They are NOT astronauts.
It is upsetting to see the wealthy cosplaying as astronauts, turning space exploration into a PR circus, while scientists, engineers, researchers, astronauts who’ve dedicated their lives to STEM, or real exploration are sidelined in favor of glamorous headlines and glitz.
Also – space tourism isn’t progress. It’s privilege with a jetpack. A few billionaires launch themselves into the stratosphere while emissions spike and Earth warms – this is climate vandalism, dressed as innovation.
Make no mistake, space contributes enormously to humanity —GPS, weather forecasting, baby formula, medical imaging—all emerged from space technology.
Space yields outsized economic returns: every dollar spent on NASA generates $8-$10 in economic activity. But stunts like these are exactly what sets detractors against investments into space exploration.
I’m extra peeved because they’ve got these women custom fit into these ridiculous blue jumpsuits, heels, hair blow dryed, madeup like space barbies – just NO! This is NOT feminism.
It’s advertising for a commercial space travel company, run by the richest man in the world. At a time in American history when women, science, education, equality (& NASA itself) is being gutted… this is just painful to see.
My writing feels shoddy because I’m genuinely annoyed – but my esteemed colleagues in the sector have penned more thoughtful pieces. Please read these articles from Dr Emma Gatti and Dr Cassandra Steer.
ADDENDUM:
I’m adding an addendum to my original post. I’ve had lots of critique about scientific elitism and gatekeping, not celebrating beauty, fashion and joy, and why the outrage when many others have taken suborbital flights before – and I want to clarify:
1. Absolutely space is for everyone – all of the space institutions I’ve worked with have gone above and beyond to welcome people from vastly different backgrounds; example the Karman Fellowship brings scientists, artists, policy-makers, lawyers together.
In Australia, ASDA (Australian Space Diversity Alliance ) was formed in early 2024 to promote diversity in the space sector with the support of the Australian Space Agency and Defence Space Command.
I myself, am not an aerospace engineer – I came into the industry via software, business development and international relations. Every space expert I met freely gave of their time and knowledge, at no point did I note ivory tower or elitism.
I didn’t feel like cheering for this particular selection of crew because they’re not “everyday” people. Send a teacher up, send a nurse up, send a student up and the whole world would have roared with applause. It’s always worth celebrating women in space. Except, this was less space and astronauts and more highly choreographed media event for a billionaire pushing space tourism (the very definition of gatekeping, since a seat costs in the vicinity of $28million).
2. It matters who the women were. The two that mattered, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, former NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, barely received press coverage. Tokenism, performative feminism at its best.
Meanwhile, Katy Perry gets the limelight and promotion gig for L’Oréal. People magazine shared “Perry complemented her space suit with jet-black middle-parted waves and a full beauty look from L’Oreal Paris to create soft brown eyes paired with a beautiful nude lip, soft pink flushed cheeks, and the Lumi Le Glass Highlighter Stick for that radiant, youthful space glow.”
WTAF. Recall when a real astronaut, Sunni Williams was unexpectedly stuck in space and Trump called her the “woman with the wild hair”? Yeah? That contrast just made my blood boil.
Not to mention the absolute fluff that came out of Perry’s mouth afterwards. Astronomy and astrology, random references to string theory and divine feminine energy. This is what we want young girls to be inspired by? No!
We want to raise girls who can think critically – they see right through this bullshit. We want girls to continue to equate space with curiosity, wonder, discovery instead of cosmetics & photo shoots.
And we will continue to respect and revere science, scientists and educators in a world that’s dumbing down and veering towards celebrity culture.
3. Most of all (for me) the fundamental driver for this outrage was what I felt was hijacking women’s empowerment for BlueOrigin. Billionaires branding space trips as “inspirational” while supporting the Trump administration with its bid to send women back to the dark ages sans reproductive and voting rights.
If you aren’t aware, the lady that pulled this girl gang together is Lauren Sanchez, wife to Jeff Bezos.
Sanchez has agency, power, influence. Yet, she has not a word to say about Trump’s attack on women in science, education, space, leadership, indeed on anything that matters at this time now as women’s rights are being eroded.
Instead she designed custom space suits for her gals, cinched at the waist and flared at the leg featuring a plunging zip neckline – to satisfy quintessential patriarchal beauty ideals.
She wanted to bring some “spice into space”. Yet another domain where women’s bodies are hypersexualized to conform to the male gaze.
Sex sells – what brilliant and bawdy advertising for Bezos, a posse of spicy women on board his phallic shaped vessel. What’s the word for when women who support the patriarchy because they’re enjoying access to power and wealth?
I refused to be thrilled for these women on such a momentous occasion for these reasons. And at a moment when real working women are being erased from NASA history, removed from rank and file across sectors, their personal anguish and suffering amplified, this is worth shouting about.
This is an edited version of an article that was first published by Mani Thiru on Linkedin.
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