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Female Astronaut Sets Space Record
Raver32 writes to tell us that U.S. astronaut Sunita 'Suni' Williams has set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. Breaking the previous record of 188 days set by astronaut Shannon Lucid in '96, Williams has lived aboard the space station since last December. "'It's just that I'm in the right place at the right time,' Williams, 41, said when Mission Control in Houston congratulated her on the record. 'Even when the station has little problems, it's just a beautiful, wonderful place to live.'"
Once you start picking subsets of humans who have achieved something, it quickly becomes meaningless.
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my initial reaction was that they shouldn't make a big deal over it based purely on sex - but the more I think about it, I hope that this is something that inspires more women to be involved in engineering and other male dominated fields. I think it would be beneficial to all of us.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Does it seem a little demeaning to anyone else that this is just the longest spaceflight "by a woman"? It makes it seem like the girls are playing "Me Too!" Who cares if it's a woman or a man. Just let me know when the longest space flight by a person of any gender occurs, that will be note worthy.
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is the more accurate headline.
Well I agree about telling our daughters that they are capable. But female role models in certain fields are very scarce due to the past discrimination. So I guess I'm glad to see a story about a female astronaut, for whatever reason.
I don't know that it sounds demeaning though, to anyone who understands the context. I for one, having been a part of the Naval aviation community, fully understand the kind of obstacles this woman overcame to get where she is. Obstacles no man in her class had to face.
Go look at her wikipedia write up. Notice how it starts? All the emphasis on her heritage? It looks sort of like some of the lists that are being created to mock my posts. People of just about any race or nationality are extremely proud to be associated with the space program and go out of their way to point it out. Why women shouldn't be allowed to be the same, I have no idea.
My initial reaction to the article was that if I had to guess - she is annoyed at the focus on her gender. And maybe she is. But the more I thought about it, the more I was pleased to see a woman achieving this getting attention - whatever the reason.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Women typically tell sexist jokes to the detriment of men everywhere. Many of them are far more 'insulting' than the idea that a woman would make dinner for her colleagues.
Yet, I have yet to hear a man whinge about them, or complain that this keeps large numbers of men out of the 'homemaker' or 'housecleaning' industries.
Lighten the fuck up, and seriously consider installing a sense of humour.
If you don't find offensive comedy funny, that's fine, but plenty of people do, and they shouldn't have to be denied a form of entertainment because of a whiny minority that takes shit too seriously.
I wouldn't. People need to get over this racism/sexism/Blah-ism junk. If someone makes a joke about a white dude, I don't get all flustered over it.
One thing I am wondering is why is this even news? I am not being sexist. Why should there be the first male who spent the longest time in space and the first female? Why not just the human with the longest time in space? Oh, and what about sports? Aren't women equal? So why are there world records for men and world records for women? Why not just a world record for the fastest, strongest, etc.?
This type of stuff isn't just male/female. It is also for every non-white man that does something. The first man in space, the first black man in space, the first women in space, the first black women in space, the first Asian in space, etc, etc. I personally don't care what the race/sex is. How about as a society we just acknowledge the first person to accomplish something regardless of sex/race?
General, you are listening to a machine! Do the world a favor and don't act like one.
I agree with you about the silliness of having a first-woman-in-space accolade, but sports are a different matter. Men and women have very different physiology after puberty and to pretend otherwise is fatuous. Granted, there are physiological characteristics that keep, say, (ethnic) Jews out of the NBA, but that's a very specific instance where height is at a premium. There are plenty of Jewish footballers who can compete at a world-class level.
Ending the gender-based segregation of sports would eliminate women's sports, and add little to the overall competition. They simply wouldn't be able to compete. With all due respect to Billy Jean King, Bobby Riggs was 55 when she beat him. She certainly wouldn't have fared as well against Jimmy Connors or Bjorn Borg?
That being said, I should reiterate my agreement that gender-based or race-based accolades are usually quite asinine. I saw a poster a while back announcing a lecture by Anousheh Ansari, the "first female space tourist."