Since the inception of the human space programme in the late 1950s, the cosmos has been graced by the presence of over 650 individuals. Astonishingly, merely 11 per cent of these interstellar adventurers, equating to only 77, were of the female gender.
In the present day, the space industry is striving to establish an even split. Nasa’s recent cohort of astronauts offers an identical representation of both sexes. Additionally, two of the five freshly graduated astronauts from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) “Class of 2022,” which includes Rosemary Coogan from Antrim, are female.
“Diversity is crucial in space exploration, embracing not only gender but all forms of diversity,” emphasizes Coogan. “Women constitute a significant portion of those passionate about space, and are perfectly capable of making crucial contributions to the cosmic field.”
So, where does Ireland stand in regards to the achievements of women in space travel?
Although Coogan is under the aegis of the UK Space Agency, her participation nudges Ireland closer to producing its inaugural ESA astronaut. In April 2024, ESA’s director general Josef Aschbacher established that all five ESA astronauts would undertake missions to the International Space Station (ISS) prior to 2030. Just a month later, two of Coogan’s peers received their ISS missions, slated for 2026.
The timeline for Coogan’s journey into space remains unconfirmed. In the meantime, she is content residing at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, where she is immersed in an array of fascinating projects as part of the Artemis programme, designed to prepare for lunar voyages.
Plans are in place to develop an international space station named the Gateway to circle the moon. Coogan is involved in assisting ESA create the habitation module, or I-Hab, designed to become home to the astronauts.
“I have been involved in providing assistance for some of the human-in-the-loop testing for the I-Hab,” she elaborates.
Not so long ago, Rhiannon Adam, a photographer and artist from Cork, was on the brink of a journey to the moon. In a venture spearheaded by SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk in 2018, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, known as MZ, was granted a lunar trip in return for his investment in the Starship- SpaceX’s most ambitious spacecraft.
Adam was among the six artists MZ included in his dearMoon initiative. The project instantly transformed her life as she travelled worldwide, attending SpaceX Starship trials and witnessing MZ’s embarkment from Baikonur to the International Space Station.
Sadly, just 18 months into the dearMoon project, MZ rescinded the agreement in late April 2024 due to ambiguities over the completion date of the Starship. Adam’s promising new life and lunar ambitions were abruptly dashed, and she is still grappling with this abrupt shift.
She explains that the loss was not just about the missed opportunity but how it changed the dynamics of her relationships. Despite her situation, she remains devoted to her initial reasons for pursuing space travel.
She finds it ironic that as an artist focusing on projects critical of power abuse, she ends up in such a circumstance. However, she emphasises that the values of their mission remain essential.
Adam and Coogan aren’t the only Irish-born individuals harbouring aspirations to leave Earth on a spaceship. Dr Norah Patten, an aeronautical engineer from Mayo who holds a PhD in her field, recently announced that she will board a suborbital Virgin Galactic flight in 2026.
Patten works as a business development manager for Réaltra Space Systems and is well-recognised for her ambition to become the first Irish astronaut. This research space flight will be a suborbital voyage lasting less than two hours. Patten intends to utilise every second of the journey to increase the research outputs and conduct numerous experiments.
A suborbital voyage does not circumnavigate the Earth, rather, it nears the Kármán Line, an internationally acknowledged boundary delineating the start of space at an altitude of 100km. Virgin Galactic plans to offer its patrons a sight of the Earth from an altitude of 82km in its suborbital trips, nearly tenfold higher than the typical altitude for commercial airlines.
At these lofty altitudes, travellers aboard the Virgin aircraft will unfasten their seatbelts and relish in four to five minutes of microgravity, whilst beholding a breathtaking panorama of the Earth’s curvature. The vehicle will then gently descend back to our planet, culminating in an unforgettable two-hour journey.
There is anticipation that in 2026, Patten will be accompanied in her suborbital journey by two prominent individuals from the fields of space and science – Shawna Pandya, a Canadian neurologist and doctor, and Kellie Gerardi, a famed US scientific communicator.
All three females are former members of Project PoSSUM, a higher atmospheric research collective that has been facilitating courses in aeronautics and aeronomy since 2015. They acquired the opportunity to be part of Virgin Galactic’s journey through the International Institute of Aeronautical Sciences (IIAS), which is operated by Project PoSSUM. IIAS is designated for the trio to conduct space experiments.
IIAS advocates for citizen research and education in science. The institution offers different courses including bioastrobiotics, aeronomy, and spaceflight operations which study the effects of microgravity on living organisms and upper atmospheric studies, respectively. The fee for these courses ranges from $995 to $5,000, with some of them instructed by Pandya, who holds the position of Director for the Space Medicine Group. Gerardi handles Human Spaceflight Operations for IIAS while Patten is employed as a researcher in bioastronautics.
Gerardi conducted research for IIAS on a previous Virgin Galactic suborbital flight, observing the behaviour of fluids during five minutes of microgravity. She indicates on her Instagram account that her research findings will be published imminently.
The journey to the outer edges of Earth’s atmosphere remains a pricey endeavour, but the costs are gradually becoming more consumer-friendly. At present, Virgin has approximately 800 clients lined up for such journeys. A vast majority of them shelled out between $200,000 and $250,000 more than ten years ago for a space trip. In June, Virgin put a halt on its commercial ventures until 2026 at the earliest, dedicating their efforts on creating the next-gen transportation system, the Delta.
Why does the prospect of space travel allure so many? According to Coogan, a space scientist, personal fascination drives this passion. The prospect of personally experiencing the vastness of space and recounting these adventures intrigues her. Adam, on the other hand, believes in unifying people through the combined power of art and the intriguing allure of space. His conviction lies in art’s ability to inspire global unity and he continues to embark on projects that resonate with this theme.
While none of the Irish nationals have yet ventured into the cosmos, several individuals of Irish descent have indeed made their contributions noticeable. For instance, Cady Coleman, a former NASA astronaut with Irish ancestry, spent over 180 days in space. Known for cherishing her Irish lineage, she took her flute along on all her missions. During 2011’s St. Patrick’s Day, she entertained viewers with a live-streamed performance from the International Space Station (ISS), playing a 100-year-old flute and tin whistle belonging to The Chieftains’ Matt Molloy and Paddy Moloney. Following this, in July 2019, Coleman graced RTÉ’s celebrations of the Apollo moon landing by performing with The Chieftains.
Sometimes, a woman’s journey to space requires persistence and an undying commitment to achieve her dreams. This was the case with Eileen Collins, an Irish-American astronaut who embarked on her maiden shuttle mission in 1995. She extended a VIP invitation for the launch to Wally Funk. Despite getting rejected thrice for astronaut applications, Funk remained undeterred. As an accomplished pilot, she dedicated her life to encouraging scientific interests among girls and remained relentless in her pursuit of space travel. Finally, in 2021, at the grand age of 82, she witnessed her dreams materialise when she was invited by Blue Origin to join the inaugural suborbital launch of the New Shepard rocket.
Over three decades ago, Helen Sharman, the first Briton to venture into space, witnessed the breathtaking view of Earth from the Mir space station. She fondly remembers the collective moments of gazing through the largest window they could find, discussing what they beheld. The experience enlightened her on the beauty and allure of our planet, prompting conversations about the people they left behind. More importantly, it gave her a profound understanding of how interconnected all things on Earth are and the global impact of our actions.
On October 18th, 2019, a significant milestone for women in space exploration occurred. Christina Koch and Jessica Meir of NASA carried out the first ever spacewalk by an all-woman team at the International Space Station. Meir, who is currently part of the Artemis programme, acknowledges that spacewalks pose the highest risk. She was entirely focused on her tasks and ensuring their safety on the day. As it turned out, it took Meir and Koch some time to fully comprehend the historical significance of their spacewalk. According to Meir, this achievement would have been impossible without the generations of women and minorities who had broken barriers before them.
The journey for women in space started earlier with Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman launched into space in 1963 from Baikonur cosmodrome, who completed 49 orbits around Earth. Nearly two decades later, Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman in space when she was given the chance to work on the Salyut 7 space station. The welcome from flight engineer Valentin Lebedev was far from encouraging, filled with jokes and a patronising gesture towards traditional gender roles. Savitskaya later made history as the first woman to carry out a spacewalk, two years after her first voyage.
Helen Sharman made history in 1991 as the debut British citizen to venture into space, having undertaken a mission lasting eight days wherein she performed experiments on the Russian space station, Mir. Intriguingly, in a span of 16 years, her extraordinary accomplishment was largely forgotten by UK media. Instead, they wrongly hailed Tim Peake, who embarked on his journey to the International Space Station in 2015, as the first Briton in space. In actuality, his rightful title is the inaugural British ESA astronaut.