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Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Alternative to the Ares Rocket - I call it "Atlas-Barbarian"

As for the entire debate about Valentina Tereshkova, I would also recommend reading "Mission to Mars" by Michael Collins for corroboration about the story.  Collins believes that Tereshkova went hysterical, based on both anecdotal evidence and the fact that only two female cosmonauts have flown since then.  In Collins's mind, Russia's first experience with women in space soured them towards the idea of letting women fly again.

*Maybe Cosmonaut Tereshkova became "hysterical" [which is a sexist term, by the way; it is derived from the combining form "hystero-", which refers to the uterus, and we all know only women have those and thus the term can only be used toward women]...OR maybe she was maligned on the basis of her gender.  We are, after all, talking about 1963 -- when "it's a man's world" was alive and well.  It would be just oh-so-convenient to scrub plans for further female flight into space on the part of the Good Ol' Boy Soviet Network because "women get hysterical in space."  And even if she did "lose it" while in orbit [she's human -- it's possible], why punish other women by disallowing them from going into space because of one woman? 

Nobody dubbed Gus Grissom "hysterical" or maligned him after the Liberty Bell 7 sank in the ocean after splashdown [which wasn't recovered until a few years ago].  Now there's a sentiment that Grissom didn't sink the Liberty Bell 7 because he "didn't panic."  Why should we give him the benefit of the doubt that he "didn't panic" [and yes, I know he died in the fire with Chaffe and White in the mid-1960s]?  Nobody suggested men shouldn't go back into space because of his goof-up -- why not?

Male astronauts experienced disorientation and nervousness
during flights; perhaps the same exact thing Cosmonaut Tereshkova experienced [except she's accused of being "hysterical"].

The fact of the matter is that she did go on a mission, she did orbit Earth for 3 days solo, and she did arrive back safely via bailing out like her male counterparts.  She had more guts and bravery than lots of men I've known have or will ever have.

It's pretty damned sad that the mention of the first woman in space results in her being sneered upon and attempting to be discredited at this message board.  Is sexism going to be alive and well on Mars, or are we ever going to get past that?  If there is to be money, wages, etc., on Mars [there probably will be], I sure hope women get equal pay for equal work there, and none of this 76 cents for a woman as compared to every dollar a man earns for doing the same job here.

My last word on this matter.

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,306

Re: Alternative to the Ares Rocket - I call it "Atlas-Barbarian"

Fixed topic shifting and artifacts

Bumped from search for Big Dumb Rockets discusion....