Posted on Thursday, August 24, 2017
Women Spacefarers by Umberto Cavallaro
If you've ever been interested in what kind of background women astronauts have, then this is the book to read. Cavallaro present short biographies of sixty women who have flown in space.
This book feels more like a reference book and it functions well as one - if you're interested in on what kind of missions any of the women astronauts flew, what were their tasks on those missions, what is their education, family background, when did they get interested in spaceflight etc, then you can find it in this book together with a bibliography should you be more interested in reading more about any of the sixty astronauts.
To me, the most interesting part was their work on the ground though - what were they assigned to do- starting from looking into how spacesuits can and should be adjusted for women and ending with engineering.
The book also serves as a good introduction to the history of women spacefarers - what were the reasons for keeping women out of space missions in the first place and what changed in the attitudes of different space programs and culture.
Labels: book review, women astronauts