Intentionally no females on ISS?

[mcs_seattle]

Is it on purpose or just a coincidence that there have been no female cosmonauts on ISS and no female astronauts during the two-person expeditions?

 

[erioladastra]

<br />Lucid was on Mir. Helms and Peggy Whitson have been on ISS. As for why none during the 2 man crews...I don't think it is intentional. The pool of folks already in the pipeline when Columbia was pretty much set.

 

[CalliArcale]

Well, actually Shannon Lucid was on Mir for a long-duration flight, not ISS. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> (Sorry, couldn't resist.) And of course Peggy Whitson served about the ISS as a long-duration science officer.<br /><br />The percentage of males to females in the astronaut corps tends to favor males anyway, so it's not really a surprise that so many of the crew to date have been male. It's simple demographics. The skew is far more pronounced among the Russians: even Three-Fingered Jack could have counted the Russian female cosmonauts who've actually flown in space on the fingers of one hand: Valentina Tereshkova, Svetlana Savitskaya, and Yelena Kondakova. (Kondakova is the only Russian woman to have made a long-duration flight.) Outside of Russia and the US, there have been a handful of other women: French astronaut Claudie Hagniere (wife of astronaut Jean-Pierre Haignere), Japanese astronaut Chiaki Muka, Canadians Robera Bondar and Julie Payette, and British astronaut Helen Sharman.<br /><br />Women who have made long-duration flights, in order of their total spaceflight hours, from most to least:<br /><br />Shanon Lucid (Mir -- Lucid also holds the female record for cumulative spaceflight hours)<br />Susan Helms (ISS)<br />Peggy Whitson (ISS)<br />Yelena Kondakova (Mir -- returned to Earth aboard Atlantis, putting her on the short list of Russians who have flown on Shuttle) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[steve82]

"...no female astronauts during the two-person expeditions"<br /><br />I suspect it is intentional. Probably start seeing them soon when we up the crew size.

 

[llivinglarge]

Who is this jack you speak off?

 

[tap_sa]

There aren't any active female cosmonauts left, are there? The fall of Soviet Union was otherwise good except the equality of sexes took a giant leap backwards. Tsar era chauvinism took over also in Russian space operations.<br /><br />Sending female astronauts for a prolonged time into confined space with male cosmonauts may not be such a good idea. Judith Lapierre will attest to that. Apparently forced French kisses are business as usual in Russian mentality. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" />

 

[JonClarke]

I have heard at 3 different conflicting versions of what happened, so I would not believe everything you read. More than that I probably should not say in a public forum, but if interested you can PM me.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[llivinglarge]

This is how we fix things on Russian space station! *hits panel with tool*

 

[JonClarke]

If it works, it works.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Reminds me of a bit from a Doctor Who episode (quoted from memory and probably not accurate):<br /><br />"This looks like Earth technology. If I recall, they had a procedure for fixing a lot of problems." <thumps the computer /> <computer powers up> "Definitely Earth technology!" <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>