there's still a woman missing
My thoughts on the Artemis III announcement
i had been looking forward to this so much.
obviously, i had my expectations (and hopes) about who would become the next Artemis astronaut. but i had made a deal with myself that no matter who the woman was, i would be excited for her.
i had even convinced myself that maybe i’d get lucky and see two women take on a role on Artemis III
with so many incredibly qualified women in the astronaut corps, i wasn’t really in doubt that whoever got selected would be the right person for the job.
honestly? it never crossed my mind that there wouldn’t be a woman on Artemis III.
and when they only had the commander left to announce, i was convinced it would be a woman.
it wasn’t. out of the five people introduced, every single one was a man.
not all of them were white men. but they were men nonetheless. and that surprised me more than i expected.
christina koch had started a wave. a wave of joy. a wave of pride. we all saw, a woman thrive in a male dominated field.
and for a moment, her presence made it feel like the future had cracked open. and then it didn’t.
i’ve heard a lot of different numbers thrown around, but they all seem to land somewhere around 40.
around 40% of NASA’s active astronauts are women. so i find myself wondering how not a single woman was qualified enough to be considered for one of these positions.
but i do wonder. i wonder why, when there are so many qualified women in the astronaut corps, we once again ended up with an all-male moon-crew.
because here’s the thing:
i hate when conversations like this immediately get reduced to “well, surely they just picked the most qualified people.”
that isn’t me claiming NASA picked bad candidates. it isn’t me saying these astronauts don’t deserve their seats.
what i am saying is that a 100% male crew feels statistically improbable when women make up such a significant portion of the astronaut corps.
if the process was entirely gender-neutral, you would expect women to show up in these prestigious roles too.
and before someone says i’m projecting politics onto space:
my love for space isn’t dependent on whether a woman gets there first.
the universe itself is genderless.
assigning a gender to the cosmos would be kind of ridiculous.
but when i watch my opportunities become smaller because i’m a woman, then gender suddenly becomes relevant.
not because i made it relevant.
because it already was.
i wish i could convince myself that the people selected were simply the most qualified.
i really do. but i can’t. and honestly?
there’s probably something inside me that never will.
because if they can convince us that a decision was made purely on qualifications — even if it wasn’t — then they’ve won.
and women’s rights have always been built on angry women.
if we want equality, women have to allow ourselves to be angry.
so i remain angry.
not at the five undoubtedly brilliant men who get the opportunity to fly Artemis III.
but at the system that made sure one of those seats didn’t go to a woman.
because of course i hope the selected astronauts have an incredible mission.
but there’s still a woman missing.
i hope we get two on Artemis IV
