April 2026: NASA launched the Artemis II mission – a journey in which 4 astronauts make a journey around the moon and back to earth; more importantly, marking the longest spaceflight mission made by a woman, Christina Koch. Oh, and if you thought they were landing on the moon like I did, you are unfortunately incorrect. It is simply to test the Orion spacecraft’s life-support for eventual moon landings. The facts aside, why did it take until the big 2026 for a woman to reach the moon, not land on the moon, but reach it?
The first successful Apollo mission, Apollo 11, occurred in 1969. There have been 27 missions following which human feet have touched the moon. 27 successful missions with multiple astronauts have done the impossible. 27 missions and 0 women. 0 women feet have touched the moon, 0 women have participated in moon landings, 0 women have been given the opportunity. Is it plain misogyny or is it a question of “who is best suited”?Â
I unfortunately do not work for NASA, for I am just a 19-year-old English major, so I do not have the answer—but I have the power of speculation. It is hard to believe that men are better suited for anything, and this is by no means a dis at all men, but what makes an astronaut? I can tell you right now, “man” is not in that definition. But let us just say men are better suited for this example, what is it about them that makes them so? Is it their muscle mass, their lack of a monthly cycle “tying them to the moon”, or something else that I just cannot seem to think of. I sayphooey. It appears to my expert eye, an eye that can detect the faintest bit of toxic-masculinity, this is plain and utter misogyny.Â
Let us go back to Apollo 11, 1969, arguably a very misogynistic— although the Beatles came out of this time period so I cannot completely dismiss it—obviously a woman was not going to be included in the mission. Heck, they did not even get credit for all the work they did that made the moon landing successful; I hope we have all seen the brilliant movie Hidden Figures. If you have not, it follows three incredibly smart women who aided in the space race, overcoming racial and gender discrimination, playing crucial roles for the U.S. There has, however, been almost 20 moon landings and attempts made from 1990-2024. Was there a woman on board? No, no there was not. Listen, I did not live through the 90’s and made it to the end of the 2000’s, but I can justly say the 2010’s was not as misogynistic of a time as 1969, yet apparently, in the minds of space-missions, it was.Â
To keep a long discussion short, I would like to congratulate Christina Koch for finally bringing women to the moon. Be sure to watch Artemis’s journey, and more importantly, a female journey; they are scheduled to be back to earth on April 10th. In my alternate reality, which is very reminiscent of BarbieLand, women go to the moon (as well as every other planet because nothing can stop us) in glittery suits and plant flags with Julie Andrews’ face on them. Oh, and we cut pieces of the mood out and eat them because it is made out of cheese, obviously.Â