The women who helped humanity first leave planet Earth

Sally Ride, Valentina Tereshkova, Mae Jemison, Judith Resnik, Helen Sharman, Kalpona Chawla, and Laurel B Clark are just seven of the 59 women who have flown in space. And yet many of their names are not well-known.

Countless women on Earth also made huge contributions to the development of human space flight. “Without them,” this Women in Science: A History Of Women In Space video shares, “it’s possible the humanity would never have reached the moon at all.”

Learn about some of the women who helped humanity first leave planet Earth, from celebrated trailblazers like Margaret Hamilton and Katherine Johnson to astronomers Williamina Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and Antonia Maury, just a few of the women known as the Harvard Observatory Computers.

The animation also highlights Jerrie Cobb, the record-setting pilot and an outspoken advocate for gender equality in spaceflight who was one of the Mercury 13. From NASA:

“Cobb, along with 24 other women, underwent physical tests similar to those taken by the Mercury astronauts with the belief that she might become an astronaut trainee. All the women who participated in the program, known as First Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLAT), were skilled pilots. Dr. Randy Lovelace, a NASA scientist who had conducted the official Mercury program physicals, administered the tests at his private clinic without official NASA sanction. Cobb passed all the training exercises, ranking in the top 2 percent of all astronaut candidates.”

Next, watch these related women in STEM videos:
• The Dreams of an Astronaut with Helen Sharman
• Katherine Johnson, the girl who loved to count
• Cooking in Space with ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti
• Dr. Mae Jemison, NASA Astronaut: I Wanted To Go Into Space
A 25-minute tour of the International Space Station with astronaut Sunita Williams