Soviet cosmonaut Valentina V. Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963, when she launched into orbit aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft. According to NASA, it would take nearly 20 more years before another woman went to space, and another 20 years exactly before the U.S. sent its first woman astronaut — Sally Ride — into the cosmos.
Space travel has become somewhat more diverse, but it's still a frontier largely dominated by men. But, female astronauts say NASA as a whole is much more diverse than it used to be, all contributing to representing the monumental achievements of women in STEM.
In honor of International Women’s Day, Teen Vogue talked to four female astronauts in NASA's 2021 candidate class — Nichole Ayers, Chris Birch, Deniz Burnham, and
Jessica Wittner — about what representation means to them, how NASA has changed since Sally Ride's pioneering flight, and what they hope their careers will look like a year from now.
The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Teen Vogue: What does it mean to you to be a female astronaut? Was this always your dream?
Nichole Ayers: As a little kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. I always had an affinity for space and for the sky. And then growing up in the shuttle era, I got to see that people actually get to fly the space shuttle. Being a woman here is pretty awesome because we're a pretty split, pretty diverse workforce here at NASA, and so coming from a more male dominated field, it's been pretty awesome seeing a bunch of other women here working.
Jessica Wittner: I've always held this belief that anybody can do anything. So you just have to set your mind to it and just keep moving on the path and doing the best you can to try to make it there. For me, being a woman here and seeing such a diverse core here has been really wonderful. This whole time, though, I've always held out that women could be anything they want to be. There are no boundaries there. You just have to go for it and do what you're passionate about.
TV: Do you think it’s important for little girls to see that they can grow up to be astronauts? What does the representation you’re offering mean to you?
Chris Birch: It honestly wasn't until I saw other women aboard the space station doing science from low Earth orbit that I realized that that was a path that I could be on. And not only that, but just by pursuing the things I was excited about, exploration, science, teamwork, that that was a profession that I could actually get into. And I feel really indebted to the other women who have been around the astronaut corps longer than I have because they're the ones that actually, without even knowing it, showed me that this could be done, convinced me that it's something I wanted to do and encouraged me to pursue it.
TV: Whenever I think of female astronauts, I always think of that story of how astronaut Sally Ride was almost sent to space with 100 tampons for 1 week and how evident it was that NASA wasn’t prepared to have women in space. I wonder how things have changed from those days.
NA: NASA is so diverse [now]. The people who help us pick what we're going to wear in space and the cosmetics and the toiletries that we're going to take to space are actually both women. So I think it speaks to just the diversity of NASA in that now there are women in there who understand what we need, who take into account what we need, and who are adaptable to what we need. I think that alone speaks volumes to where we're at now as a workforce.
CB: I think this also is a reflection of our society as a whole, being more open and upfront and willing to communicate about issues that affect those that menstruate. And I think that's really important, not just for success in our professions, but for success for anyone who menstruates in whatever workforce they are. It's important that we talk about this, and same thing with providing support for those who choose to have children, breastfeed, take parental leave, etc.
TV: What do you want young women who may be looking up to you to know?
Deniz Burnham: I would say don't be so afraid of failing that you're unwilling to try. It's important that you be your own person. People should try different things, see what their interests are, be true to their passions, but don't be afraid to pivot if things don't go quite as you expected. And it's okay to dream big and follow through.
TV: What do you hope your careers will look like a year from now?
NA: Man, I hope to see at least one, if not two of us four ladies in space a year from now or prepping to go to space. We're all going to start working on these exploration programs and providing the crew perspective to both NASA and outside agencies as we continue to prep to get to the moon.
CB: It's really exciting because not only are we supporting NASA's missions to maintain a presence in low Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station – we are also working really hard, the entire NASA workforce to get us ready to go back to the moon for the first time in over 50 years.