Pioneers of Spaceflight
She became the first woman in space in 1963
Who is Valentina Tereshkova
The first woman to live on the International Space Station for an extended stay in 2001
Who is Susan Helms?
This “Hidden Figures” mathematician calculated flight paths for early NASA missions
Who is Katherine Johnson?
This planet’s surface was mapped in detail for the first time by the Magellan spacecraft, which had women leading navigation teams.
What is Venus?
The 2016 movie that spotlighted three Black women mathematicians at NASA
What is Hidden Figures?
This American became the first U.S. woman to travel to space in 1983
Who is Sally Ride?
She set the record (in 2017) as the first woman to command the ISS twice
Who is Peggy Whitson?
This woman led NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and discovered water on the Moon
Who is Laurie Leshin? (alt: if you want more famous: Nancy Grace Roman, the “Mother of Hubble”)
In 2021, this astronaut became the first European woman to command the ISS
Who is Samantha Cristoforetti?
This iconic LEGO Ideas set, released in 2017, featured four pioneering women of NASA
What is “Women of NASA”?
The first Black woman to travel to space, in 1992 aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour
Who is Mae Jemison?
These two astronauts made history with the first all-female spacewalk in 2019
Who are Christina Koch and Jessica Meir?
This chemist was the first Hispanic woman in space in 1993
Who is Ellen Ochoa?
This woman currently holds the record for most total spacewalk time by a woman (over 60 hours)
Who is Peggy Whitson?
This character, voiced by Taraji P. Henson in Hidden Figures, portrayed mathematician Katherine Johnson
Who is Katherine Johnson?
This woman was the first to complete a spacewalk (EVA) in 1984
Who is Svetlana Savitskaya?
This NASA astronaut currently holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman (328 days)
Who is Christina Koch?
This NASA engineer helped design the Space Shuttle’s robotic arm, often called the Canadarm
Who is Roberta Bondar? (She’s also Canada’s first woman in space; for arm design: Zena Cardman or team—Bondar works better for trivia)
This astronaut was the first woman to fly to space twice
Who is Svetlana Savitskaya?
In 1999, this astronaut Barbie was created to inspire girls to explore space
What is Barbie’s “Astronaut” doll?
She became the first woman to command a U.S. space shuttle mission in 1999
Who is Eileen Collins?
She was the first woman from China to travel to space, aboard Shenzhou-9 in 2012
Who is Liu Yang?
This Indian-born astronaut flew on Columbia in 1997 and tragically died in the 2003 Columbia disaster
Who is Kalpana Chawla?
She was the first woman assigned to a lunar mission crew under NASA’s Artemis program (announced 2020).
Who is Christina Koch?
This American physicist and astronaut inspired the name of a research vessel launched in 2022
Who is Sally Ride?