According to the author, NASA does need more women, but they’re on the right track, having been actively recruiting them. “When you look at the last several classes of astronauts, they have had or been close to gender parity.  The years of all-male selections mean that it’s going to take years before we have equal numbers going to into space.”

“It’s the 21st century. But seriously, I think it’s been having people like Dr. Ellen Ochoa, who recently retired as the director of Johnson Space Center, driving an initiative to have a more inclusive program,” Kowal said. “Having women in the program means that they can point out the problems caused by unconscious gender bias, which, in turn, opens the door for the next generation of women.”

To conclude, Kowal urged to take things into perspective. “Look… we’re talking about women in space but there have only been 14 Black people in space. There are centuries of mistakes and damage and there’s no need to replicate that in space. The only way we fix it though is by consciously examining the choices people made in the past and striving to do better.”