Written by Abigail Romero and edited by Clarissa Kim
There have been 566 people that have flown in space. 65 of those astronauts have been women. 8 of those 65 women have been of Asian origin, which means that only 1.4% of astronauts have been Asian women. These numbers confirm the drastic gender gap that exists in STEM related areas, as well as the shocking lack of Asian representation in the space program. While it can be discouraging to consider how few Asian women have been to space, it is still important to recognize how far we’ve come. These 8 women have made incredible achievements; they have not only increased the representation of women and Asians in space, but also made important scientific discoveries and large strides in the possibilities of space travel. With 6 women from East Asia, 2 from South Asia, and 1 from West Asia, these women represent a variety of Asian cultures and represent what is, what has, and what will be possible. Without further ado, here is a list of the 8 incredible women who have traveled quite literally, above and beyond!*
* List in order of earliest spaceflight to latest spaceflight
Chiaki Mukai - Japanese Payload Specialist & Heart Surgeon
Chiaki Mukai is not only the first Japanese woman to go to space, but more broadly, the first AAPI woman to go to space. Born in 1952, Mukai lived in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan as a young child. In 1971, she graduated from Keio Girls Senior High School in Tokyo. After graduation, she attended Keio University where she achieved a doctorate in medicine in 1977 and a doctorate in physiology in 1988. One year later, in 1989, she became a board certified cardiovascular surgeon by the Japan Surgical Society.
Mukai was selected by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) to be a candidate for STS-47, Spacelab-J First Material Processing Lab, and as a backup to fly on STS-90, the Neurolab mission. While she ultimately wasn’t chosen to fly on either of these flights, in 1994, she finally had the chance to soar to the stars. Mukai flew on mission STS-65 as the first Japanese woman in space and the first Asian woman in space. She flew as a Payload Specialist, studying 82 life science and microgravity experiments. Mukai flew again in 1998 as a Payload Specialist on STS-95 where she flew with US Senator John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. During this flight, she conducted many space medicine experiments. Mukai logged in total, 566 hours in space.
Even after her final flight (as of now), Mukai is still involved in the space industry. From 2004 to 2007, she was a visiting professor at the International Space University, teaching her specialized knowledge on space medicine and human space exploration health. From 2007 to 2012, Mukai worked at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as Director of the Space Biomedical Research Office, Human Space Technology and Astronaut Department, and the Human Space System and Utilization Mission Directorate. Furthermore, from 2011 to 2015, Mukai served as senior advisor to the JAXA executive director. After 2015, Mukai became the vice president of the Tokyo University of science and a JAXA technical counselor. She currently serves as the Director of Fujitsu Limited and is a corporate executive fellow of Kao Corporation.
Kalpana Chawla - Indian-American Astronaut & Engineer
Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian woman to go to space. Awarded posthumously the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and regarded as a national hero of India, Kalpana’s achievements as a hero in space won’t be forgotten. She was born on March 17, 1962 in Karnal, Haryana, India to Pakistani parents. The youngest of four children, Chawla demonstrated an interest in flying from a young age. Her interest was encouraged by her father, who took her to airplane flying clubs to fly in the Pushpak airplane.
Chawla graduated from the Tagore School in 1976 as a high performing student. She matriculated to the Punjab Engineering College, where she graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering. After her graduation in 1982, she moved to the United States where she achieved her masters in aeronautical engineering in 1984 from the University of Texas. In 1986 she received her second masters and a doctorate degree in aeronautical engineering from University of Colorado. Chawla began to work at the NASA Ames Research Center in 1988, specializing in computational fluid dynamics and vertical takeoff and landing. She held several flight instructor certifications for single engine, multi-engine, glider, and seaplanes.
After becoming a naturalized citizen in 1991, Chawla applied for the NASA Astronaut Corps. She was selected in 1994 as a candidate and trained for a year to become a crew representative for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches, where she worked on the Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and tested software for future STS missions. Chawla finally joined the astronaut corps in 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1996 on STS-87. Chawla flew on the space shuttle Columbia. During this flight, Chawla deployed the Spartan Satellite, which malfunctioned after deployment. In order to fix the malfunction, fellow astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi had to do a space walk. She was exonerated of any charges after the NASA investigation revealed faulty software. Chawla didn’t fly again until STS-107, which was scheduled to take off in 2001 but was delayed until 2003. This unfortunately would be Chawla’s last flight. The crew spent 16 days in space, conducting over 80 space experiments. Upon reentry, space shuttle Columbia deconstructed. Columbia, and its crew, plunged toward the ground. Kalpana Chawla was only 40 when she died. At the time of her death, Chawla logged over 720 hours in space.
A hero to both India and the United States, Kalpana Chawla’s legacy will be lived on by her family and her husband, Jean-Pierre Harrison.*
*Kalpana Chawla’s private life is respected in this paper, and only information available by public domain is used. Her husband reports that Chawla wanted a private life, as thus her private life won’t be discussed.
Anousheh Ansari - Iranian-American Spaceflight Participant, Engineer, Co-Founder and CEO of Prodea Systems, & Co-Founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc.*
Anousheh Ansari is an Iranian born American businesswoman, largely credited for being the first female space tourist, first Iranian in space, first Muslim woman in space, and first person to create a blog in space. Though she is a space tourist, she prefers to call herself a “spaceflight participant." Ansari was born in Mashhad, Iran on September 12, 1966 and immigrated to the United States as a teenager. Ansari is fluent in four languages: Persian, French, English, and Russian. Ansari attended George Mason University, where she achieved a bachelors in electrical engineering and computer science, and a masters from George Washington University while simultaneously working full time at MCI Communications. With her husband and brother-in-law, Ansari co-founded Telecom Technologies, Inc. which was acquired by Sonus Networks, Inc. in 2001.
Ansari trained as a backup for a flight to the International Space Station with the Russian Soyuz mission. She was elevated to prime crew after the person she replaced wasn’t medically cleared. The flight was launched on September 18, 2006. Ansari conducted four experiments during her time in space, including: researching the mechanisms behind anemia, how changes in muscles influence lower back pain, and the consequences of radiation on ISS members and different species of microbes. After about 216 hours in space, Ansari touched down back on Earth on September 29, 2006.
After her visit in space, Ansari went on to co-found Prodea Systems soon after in 2006 with the Ansari family. She currently serves as the organization’s chairwoman and CEO.
*Anousheh Ansari hales from Mashhad, Iran. Geographically Iran is considered to be West Asia which is why she is a part of this list. It is unknown if Ansari identifies with Asian culture, but since she is geographically part of Asia she will be included in this list.
Sunita Williams - Indian-American Astronaut, United States Navy Officer, and Test Pilot
Sunita Williams has lived an incredible life thus far. A woman of Indian-Slovenian descent, Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio.* She is the youngest of three children and graduated from Needham High School in 1983. Upon her graduation, Williams attended the United States Naval Academy in 1987 and achieved a bachelor's degree in physical science. In 1995, Williams completed a masters degree in engineering management.
Prior to her career as an astronaut, Williams was a Naval Officer for the United States Navy. In 1989, Williams became a Naval Aviator. She trained to become the pilot of an H-46 Sea Knight and was deployed overseas to participate in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Provide Comfort. Over her military career, Sunita Williams has logged over 3,000 hours in 30 different types of aircraft.
Sunita Williams was deployed on the USS Saipan in 1998 when she received the news from NASA that she had been accepted into the space program. William’s first flight to space began on December 6, 2015 aboard the Discovery for the STS-116 mission. She completed 3 spacewalks with fellow crew member Michael López Alegría. In April, Williams became the first person to run a marathon in space. Since she was already listed as an entrant to the Boston Marathon, Williams ran the entire distance in space in 4 hours and 24 minutes. After her return in June 2007, she broke the record for longest single spaceflight by a woman. Williams returned to space in 2012 with the Russian Soyuz module. On September 17, 2012, Williams became the second woman to ever become the commander of the International Space Station and became the first person to ever complete a triathlon in space. She returned in November 2012 and has a current total EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) time of 50 hours. Williams’ total space time is over 7700 hours.
Sunita Williams is still involved in the space industry, currently working with Boeing and SpaceX to train their commercial crew vehicles.
*Contrary to claims that she was born in India and was the first woman of Indian descent to go to space.
Yi So yeon - Korean Cosmonaut* & Biotechnologist
Yi So-yeon is the first and only Korean** to fly in space. She was born in Gwangju, South Korean to Yi Gil-soo and Jeong Geum-soon on June 2, 1978. She graduated from the Gwangju Science High School. Yi achieved her bachelors and masters in mechanics at KAIST, the national research university located in Daejeon. She received her doctorate in biotech from KAIST in 2008, though she was unable to attend the ceremony due to training commitments in Russia.
On Christmas Day in 2006, Yi So-yeon was chosen as one of two candidates to be a part of the Korean astronaut program. In September 2007 the choices were finalized. A man named Ko San would be the primary astronaut choice, while Yi would serve as his replacement. This was chosen based on performance and testing. However, a change was made in March 2008 when Ko violated training rules by mailing sensitive books back to South Korea without permission, and Yi became the primary astronaut. Yi launched from her flight in April 2008. She is credited as the third woman (after Anousheh Ansari and Helen Sharman) to be the first national from her country. During her mission, Yi completed 18 experiments for the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). Some notable experiments include her fruit fly experiment, plant growth experiment, an experiment on her own heart, an experiment in the effects of gravity on her face and eyes, and she observed the movement of dust storms from China to Korea. Yi returned to Earth on April 19, 2008 with a total of 240 flight hours. After her flight, she and Ko became South Korea’s space ambassadors.
Yi So-yeon resigned from KARI in 2014 due to personal reasons, including wanting to get married and pursuing an MBA. After completing her MBA at the University of California, Berkeley, she joined the Association of Spaceflight Professionals.
*By technical definition, Yi So-yeon is a cosmonaut. Cosmonauts are those trained by the RSA, which Yi was.
**Korean born, not Korean-American
Naoko Yamazaki - Japanese Astronaut, Engineer, & Researcher
Naoko Yamazaki was the second Japanese woman in space. Born in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, Japan in 1970, Yamazaki attended and graduated from Ochanomizu University Senior High School in 1989 and matriculated to the University of Tokyo to achieve a bachelor degree in aerospace engineering in 1993 and a masters in aerospace engineering in 1996.
Her space career began in 1996, when she was hired by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) to be a part of a team to develop a system integration for the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). She also ran failure analysis and initial operation procedures. From 1998 to 2000 she was part of a team that created designs for the ISS Centrifuge. She was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1999 by NASDA, and by 2001, she was certified as an astronaut. In 2004 she completed Soyuz-TMA Flight Engineer training in Star City, Russia. She returned to the United States the same year to begin Astronaut Candidate Training, and she was assigned to the Robotics Branch. She was selected in November 2008 to fly on STS-131. She launched in 2010, and was the last JAXA astronaut to go up on a space shuttle. She retired from JAXA in August 2011, having logged around 360 hours in space.
Liu Yang - Chinese Taikonaut & Transport Pilot
Liu Yang is the first Chinese woman in space. Liu was born in 1978 to a “worker’s family” reportedly in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China. As a child, Liu Yang did exceptionally well in school and won prize money. Instead of buying herself anything, she bought her parents both shoes. Despite these humble beginnings, Liu joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in 1997 as a pilot after learning to fly at the Changchun no.1 Flight College. She soon qualified to become the deputy head of a flight unit, attaining the rank of major. She is a veteran pilot with over 1680 hours of experience flying.
Liu Yang was selected as an astronaut candidate along with Wang Yaping after excelling in her testing and training. During her training to apply to be an astronaut candidate, Liu reportedly already knew the questions that the interviewers would ask because a fellow soldier had told her. While the interview was being conducted she very honestly told them she already knew the questions and asked for different scenarios. She was chosen to be part of the Shenzhou XIV crew, which would be the first manned mission to the Chinese space station: Tiangong 1. The mission was launched on June 16, 2012, exactly 49 years (to the day!) after the launch of the first woman in space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. Liu reportedly conducted space medicine experiments and communicated with the ISS astronauts and cosmonauts during her time in space. Liu Yang has logged about 312 hours in space.
Wang Yaping - Chinese Taikonaut & Military Pilot
Wang Yaping was the second Chinese woman to go to space. Much of her early life remains unknown, including her birthdate, parents, and lower school experience. What is known about her is that she completed a degree in military science from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force Changchun no. 1 Flight School branch where she also became a military pilot. She is known as the seventh female military pilot in China Specifically, she was a pilot in the Wuhan Air Force, participating in major events such as the Wenchuan Earthquake Relief and the Beijing 2008 Olympics to clear the sky of clouds or rain. A veteran pilot, she accumulated 1600 flight hours and was named captain in the PLA Air Force.
Wang was picked to be an astronaut in 2010, but wasn’t selected for a flight until 2013. She was a member of the Shengzhou X crew that flew to the Tiangong-1, which orbited the Earth. During her time in space, Wang taught a live physics lesson to Chinese students and conducted scientific experiments.
Wang currently holds the title of Air Force Colonel and serves as a deputy to the National People’s Congress.
Sources
1. Coppinger, R. (2012, October 04). China's First Woman in Space: Q&A with Astronaut Liu Yang. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.space.com/17887-china-first-female-astronaut-liu-yang-interview.html
2. Dhar, A. (2017, April 28). Exclusive: Kalpana Chawla's Husband Denies Rights to Make Biopic. Retrieved September 18, 2020, from https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/bollywood/husband-of-astronaut-kalpana-chawla-on-biopic
3. Gregersen, E. (2019, September 27). Liu Yang. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Liu-Yang
4. Interview With Liu Yang. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2020, from http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/2012-06-16/0708693188.html
5. Jaxa. (2011, October 6). JAXA Astronauts. Retrieved September 18, 2020, from https://iss.jaxa.jp/en/astro/biographies/yamazaki/index.html
6. Jaxa. (2016, May 2). JAXA Astronauts. Retrieved September 15, 2020, from https://iss.jaxa.jp/en/astro/biographies/mukai/index.html
7. Newcomb, A. (2013, August 14). Why South Korea's Only Astronaut Quit. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/south-koreas-astronaut-quit/story?id=24959899
8. Quora. (2017, May 11). What Are The Differences Between An Astronaut And A Cosmonaut? Retrieved September 18, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/05/11/what-are-the-differences-between-an-astronaut-and-a-cosmonaut/#1577da0c3fa7
9. Redd, N. T. (2017, December 20). Kalpana Chawla: Biography & Columbia Disaster. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://www.space.com/17056-kalpana-chawla-biography.html
10. Soyeon Yi. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2020, from http://www.brookeowensfellowship.org/soyeon-yi
11. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2020, September 08). Anousheh Ansari. Retrieved September 18, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anousheh-Ansari
12. The Real Rocket Women:All-Female Astronaut Panel Represents International Cooperation. (2014, July 31). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from https://rocket-women.com/2014/07/the-real-rocket-women-all-female-astronaut-panel-represented-international-cooperation/
13. Whiting, M. (2016, February 07). Sunita L. Williams. Retrieved September 18, 2020, from https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/sunita-l-williams
Comments