Six women from Russia have started an experience to test how a group which consist of women only will be affected physically, socially, and psychologically in a long standing space journey.
The team will conduct 10 scientific experiments in which labor pressure to be simulated in a return trip to the Moon during the experience of eight days.
The team, which will carry out the experiments in a spaceship simulation, will have 1.5 hours of spare time each day. The experiment that began yesterday will end on Thursday.
Yelena Luchitskaya, Darya Komissarova, Polina Kuznetsova, Anna Kussmaul, Inna Nosikova and Tatyana Shiguyeva whose ages ranging between 22 and 34 are women of experts in medicine, biophysics, and psychology.
While institute Director Igor Ushakov in the press conference where the experiment is announced to public has said, "This experiment is going to be very interesting in terms of psychology. You know what they say, two housewives cannot live in one kitchen", journalists asked the cosmonauts "How will you hold without making makeup for eight days?", "How will you endure without men around?"
While Darya Komissarova replied "We are very beautiful even without makeup" to the first question, her colleague Anna Kussmaul said, "We do our job. You don't think about men or women when you do your job".
First female cosmonaut went to space in 1963
First female cosmonaut traveling to space is Valentina Tereshkova. Tereshkova went to space in 1963, after two years of Yuri Gagarin who is the first man going to space.
Up till now 40 female astronauts from various countries made space travel. However, they were exposed to sexist comments as well.
First woman working at International Space Station Yelena Serova was asked in 2014 how she will make her hair and what will her 11-year-old daughter do when she is absent.
38-year-old space engineer Serova asked the journalists "I also want to ask a question to you: are you interested in hair models of my colleagues as well?"
Russian Space Agency President Vladimir Popovkin had said, "We do this for prestige of Russia. Serovia will successfully accomplish the mission but in near future there won't be a space journey by a woman". (ÇT/TK)
