When it comes to space programs and flights to distant planets, we always tend to think of men astronauts who carry them out. This way of thinking is on the way to changing with NASA's announcement that in the prepared flight to Mars women will participate alongside men and it's likely that the first person to step on the Red Planet will be a woman.
Women's participation in space programs
It wouldn't be the first time women have taken part in space flights. They've proven long ago that space is a territory they can conquer. The Russian pilot Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space, 56 years ago, who flew aboard the Vostok 6. After her, a number of American astronauts have flown, as well as gone out on spacewalks.
American Peggy Whitson is a real record holder with her 10 spacewalks in a space suit in open space. She has also spent the most time in space among American astronauts.
An all-women crew is currently being prepared, which will start work on the International Space Station beginning March 29. This is to be the first independent women's crew in the history of human space programs. The astronauts will be working on maintaining the outside of the ISS.
NASA has announced that it is currently working on the most powerful rocket it has ever made - the Space Launch System, as well as the Orion capsule, intended to return man to the Moon in 2028. All this provides grounds that there's no reason why the first person on Mars cannot be a woman.
Who is the woman who will have the opportunity to become the first person to step on Mars?
NASA plans its mission to Mars for the 30s of this century. The astronauts who will be carrying out the first flight to the Red Planet are already preparing. Among them is 18-year-old Alyssa Carson from Louisiana. Her dream is to become the first person to set foot on Mars and she has all the odds of realizing it. NASA believes she possesses everything needed for this.
She has already completed the training program and has an official certificate stating that she's ready for a flight to Mars.
Alyssa is a public speaker who is doing everything possible to raise interest for space exploration and provide courage for every person to follow their dreams, however bold and difficult they may be.
