Missions mark giant leaps for womankind
— -- As one female astronaut commands the shuttle Discovery, another will assume the leadership post on the space station
When space shuttle Discovery blasts off as early as Tuesday, the astronaut in the commander's seat will make history — and also represent the likely end of an era.
Commander Pamela Melroy, 46, will be second female shuttle commander. She'll also almost certainly be the last.
No other female astronaut is qualified to lead a shuttle flight, and NASA is unlikely to hire women to follow in Melroy's footsteps before the shuttle retires in 2010.
Still, Melroy's trip represents how far women have come in taking on leadership roles in space. Melroy's arrival in space will mark the first time that two female commanders will orbit the Earth. The other is astronaut Peggy Whitson, who today officially becomes the first female commander of the International Space Station.
The overlap "is just indicative that there are enough women in the program that coincidentally this can happen," Melroy says. "And that is a wonderful thing."
It may be a long time before it happens again. There is no one waiting to follow Melroy, though women account for 19, or 21%, of the 91 astronauts eligible to fly space missions. None of the 19 are pilot-astronauts, the group from which shuttle commanders are chosen.
The space agency plans to hire more astronauts in 2009, but they are unlikely to fly on the shuttle, which will be grounded long before the new recruits' training ends.
Melroy attributes the lack of women on the ladder toward a command to "statistics (that are) very tough." Those chosen by NASA as pilot-astronauts must have spent at least 1,000 hours flying jets, and military test pilots are strongly preferred.
Fewer than two dozen women in the world have those credentials, Melroy says. Fewer than five female pilots graduate each year from the military's test-pilot schools.
NASA officials don't dwell on the lack of women shuttle bosses. The agency prefers to focus on the future, which will offer more — though different — opportunities for female astronauts.
