First person on Mars to be a woman: NASA
WASHINGTON: The first person to set foot on Mars is likely to be a woman, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has said.
While Bridenstine didn’t identify a specific person, he said women are at the forefront of the space agency’s upcoming plans.
Asked if a woman will go to the Moon for the first time, Bridenstine said “The answer is absolutely. In fact, it is likely to be a woman, the first next person on the Moon. It is also true that the first person on Mars is likely to be a woman,” Bridenstine said dur- ing a recent interview on the science and technology radio talk show Science Friday.
NASA recently announced that it will have its first all-female spacewalk at the end of the month, when astronauts Anne Mcclain and Christina Koch will get to float around in space.
NASA TO STUDY APOLLO MISSION MOON SAMPLES
NASA has awarded $8 million to nine science teams to study the untouched samples collected from the Moon by Apollo missions in the 1970s and carefully stored for nearly 50 years, the US space agency said.
“By studying these precious lunar samples for the first time, a new generation of scientists will help advance our understanding of our lunar neighbour and prepare for the next era of explora- tion of the Moon and beyond,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’S science mission directorate.
“This exploration will bring with it unique samples into the best labs right here on Earth,” Zurbuchen said in a statement.
Six of the nine teams will look at one of the three remaining lunar samples, from Apollo missions 15, 16, and 17, which have never been exposed to Earth’s atmosphere, NASA said.
The sample these teams will study came to Earth vacuumsealed on the Moon by the Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Gene Cernan in 1972.