An All-Female Mission to Mars

[ashling]

As a NASA guinea pig, I verified that women would be cheaper to launch than men.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/space_20/2014/10/manned_mission_to_mars_female_astronauts_are_cheaper_to_launch_into_outer.html

In February of 1960, the American magazine Look ran a cover story that asked, “Should a Girl Be First in Space?” It was a sensational headline representing an audacious idea at the time. And as we all know, the proposal fell short. In 1961, NASA sent Alan Shepard above the stratosphere, followed by dozens of other spacemen over the next two decades. Only in 1983 did Sally Ride become America’s first female astronaut to launch.

But why would anyone think a woman would be the first to space, anyway? Medical studies, for one thing. Some studies in the 1950s and ’60s suggested female bodies had stronger hearts and could better withstand vibrations and radiation exposure. Moreover, psychological studies suggested that women coped better than men in isolation and when deprived of sensory inputs.

Some of these investigations were limited in their design and sample sizes. But there was another, more compelling reason that women might outshine men as potential astronauts: basic economics. Thanks to their size, women are, on average, cheaper to launch and fly than men.

[caraher]

1. Cue the "Mars Needs Women" gags

But it does make a lot of sense...

[malthaussen]

2. I always thought women should be jockeys and astronauts...

... since mass is one of the most important considerations in both professions. Nevertheless, women have a hard time breaking into either.

But hey, if the world were rational, it would be men who ride sidesaddle.

-- Mal

[RedCloud]

3. Women outlive men anyway, so why not?

Maybe we can get more valuable info in space than we ever thought before.