Social Question

mazingerz88's avatar

The very first all-female spacewalk is happening soon, what’s the best and the worst that could happen?

Asked by mazingerz88 (28846points) March 7th, 2019 from iPhone

Nothing but healthy humorous answers if you’ll oblige.

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

54 Answers

stanleybmanly's avatar

If you’re looking for the worst that could happen, but not to men, the obvious answer is of course PMS.

rebbel's avatar

“Okay, now turn that bright red button on the right of the valve.”
”........”
“The other right….”

elbanditoroso's avatar

I think that the all-women part of it is a silly stunt.

Spacewalks are rare and usually pretty dangerous. That would be the same whether it was all male, all female, or mixed. You have to be a good, well trained astronaut and know what you are doing. Gender has nothing to do with it.

Or said another way – If I am trying to fix something on the space station and I need to get a part of a widget from my colleague, it makes absolutely no difference if the hand that is giving me the widget is male or female. It’s the competence I want.

This is a stunt. And it’s a more serious question than you think, @mazingerz88

janbb's avatar

@elbanditoroso Has it not occurred to you that all of the early space walk expeditions were all male? Was it just a stunt when it was all male? Why would an all female team be any less competent? I’m sure they were not picked randomly.

elbanditoroso's avatar

@janbb – yes, I agree. but in the 1970s, they didn’t even train women. Now they do. My point is that it shouldn’t be remarkable either way.

SmartAZ's avatar

Confucius say woman who fly upside down have hairy crackup.

Oh! Bad mouth! Bad bad bad! Sit! Stay!

janbb's avatar

@elbanditoroso Ok, thanks. I get where you’re coming from then. But I guess women are still playing catch up in many fields.

LadyMarissa's avatar

According to Wiki…“As of July 2016, of the 537 total space travelers, 61 have been women.[1] There have been one each from France, India, Italy, South Korea, and the United Kingdom; two each from Canada, China, and Japan; four from the Soviet Union/Russia; and 45 from the United States.” Plus there was a 22 year gap between the first American male & the first American female.

With the training they receive, I wouldn’t think that there wouldn’t be a whole lot of difference in their ability!!!

zenvelo's avatar

”...but in the 1970s, they didn’t even train women.

That was NASA in the US. The first woman in space was a Soviet Cosmonaut in 1963. NASA’s first training class for women started in 1978.

The Soviet space program was ahead of the NASA effort until Apollo 8, in December 1968.

Darth_Algar's avatar

@zenvelo

Yep. I love that John Glenn, after spending 5 hours in orbit, arrogantly proclaims that women would not be able to physically handle the rigors of space. The along come Valentina Tereshkova, who spends 3 days in orbit.

Darth_Algar's avatar

@elbanditoroso

Why is this a “stunt”? Do you think the women are somehow less qualified?

gondwanalon's avatar

The best thing is that it will be a success. The worst thing is that someone is killed.

elbanditoroso's avatar

@Darth_Algar not at all. You’re putting (wrong) words in my mouth

cookieman's avatar

I really dislike the minimizing of female (or race) achievements after MANY DECADES of the vast majority of achievements being made by white dudes within systems designed to favor white dudes, by white dudes.

Now that baby steps are being made toward balancing the percentages of those achievements to be more in line with actual population percentages, many of those same white dudes are like, “Meh. No big deal. Gender/race shouldn’t matter”

Fuck and You, thankyouverymuch.

Signed,

Another White Dude

JLeslie's avatar

The worst that would happen is someone dies! I mean really, there is risk in this space stuff.

Isn’t it just 2 or 3 of them? I don’t think it’s that big of a deal they are all women, but I guess latch on to any sort of publicity the space program can get. My guess is there are several qualified candidates, and their number gets pulled so to speak as a mission comes up regardless of gender, race, religion, etc. Last I read, the space program has a lot of females in it now.

What’s next? All Hispanic? All black? It will be nice when it’s just so commonplace for minorities to be in every facet of our workforce that it doesn’t need mentioning as something different or special.

josie's avatar

Best-They discover or accomplish something that, if there is no measurable ROI, at least arguably justifies the risk and cost.
Worst- It’s just a political feel good demonstration

kritiper's avatar

Her boobs could get caught in the work she was performing.

Darth_Algar's avatar

@elbanditoroso

No, I’m asking you – what makes it a “stunt”?

gorillapaws's avatar

The worst would probably involve a catastrophic chain of events that would evenutally lead to the participants devolving into cannibals until only one was left at which point she might begin to consume herself.

KNOWITALL's avatar

I think it’s great.

filmfann's avatar

Well, I suppose they can both be on their mensies, and attract space sharks.

Darth_Algar's avatar

FWIW: my understanding is that many female astronauts choose to undergo an oral contraceptive regimen to avoid having to deal with periods while in space.

JLeslie's avatar

Gawd, they aren’t in combat walking through swamps and living in fix holes. Why does this even come up?

ucme's avatar

Probably scratch each others eyes out for rocking up in the same outfits.
On the other hand, the ultimate in girl power…kinda.

ragingloli's avatar

What do you mean, “first”?
Anthropocentric critters.

Call_Me_Jay's avatar

The best outcome is kids get inspired and become big achievers in the coming decades.

Other than a kind of disaster which I do not want to contemplate, I do not see a worst outcome.

Patty_Melt's avatar

Space, no gravity. Girls, need I say more? Everything shapes out nicely!
Hmm, what else?
No dishes to do.
Let hair and makeup go.
No schmucks around to hit on them.
First pillow fight in space.
All that down time to dish on the guys, rate best ass of space program, etc.

Bad stuff:
After a space walk soaps seem lame.
“Who the hell ate my chocolate!!!”
Now their husbands, “You went to space, mow the shit yourself.”

By the way, men, contraceptives don’t stop periods, they frequently help regulate them.

Darth_Algar's avatar

@Patty_Melt

When taken on a typical dosage and schedule, yes. But we’re talking about a modified regimen designed to bring periods to a halt.

Patty_Melt's avatar

Doesn’t sound healthy.
Messing around with hormones to that extent could be quite damaging.

MrGrimm888's avatar

Well. On Earth, females can’t work together. They hate each other. Maybe it’s different, in space…

Darth_Algar's avatar

@Patty_Melt

Well going into space isn’t exactly a health activity to begin with. Being in space has all kinds of deleterious effects on the body, but these folks choose to do it anyway.

JLeslie's avatar

Women stop their periods all the time. I’m not fond of it, but it certainly isn’t just a space thing if they choose to do it. Women stop their periods to avoid pregnancy, to do egg extractions, to deal with endometriosis, to deal with bad menstrual cramps, and it naturally stops when they are pregnant, and if they have PCOS.

Weightlessness screws around with muscles, no gravity cause then to atrophy. They try to exercise to not lose too much muscle mass if they are up there a long time. If you have back problems it could give tons of relief or even a cure. Gravity presses on the vertebrae, and relief from that theoretically could do wonders.

Darth_Algar's avatar

It should be noted that when to stop one’s period or not isn’t a rule. Some female astronauts do, some don’t. It’s a personal choice and NASA makes no rule or recommendation either way (don’t know about Roscosmos, the Russian space agency).

ucme's avatar

Fun fact: It is impossible to belch in space.
In space no one can hear you burp

janbb's avatar

@ucme That settles it then – I’m not going!

ucme's avatar

@janbb Penguins can’t burp either, much less commit to space travel.
By the way, there was no drop down thingy of usernames so I had to type yours & spell check showed me jan bbc…this humoured me a little.

janbb's avatar

@ucme But can you imagine what a “stunt” an all penguin space expedition would be? It probably would end up on the BBC!

ucme's avatar

“One small waddle for birds, one giant leap for penguins”

mazingerz88's avatar

All female penguins?

ucme's avatar

Yes leap, you must have seen, moreover, joined in with the leaping from the crashing waves witnessed on many a natural history show…bbc at that ;-}

Female penguins #metoo

SmartAZ's avatar

It will be a flamboyant display of cunning stunts.

ucme's avatar

Mary Hinge & Betty Swollocks

Call_Me_Jay's avatar

It probably would end up on the BBC!

There’s a penguin on the telly.

Sadly the video is not online

janbb's avatar

@Call_Me_Jay I remember that skit!

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

Update: The space station only has enough medium torso space suit parts and only one of the female astronauts can go at a time.

MrGrimm888's avatar

Oh well. No stunt…

rebbel's avatar

Does my ass look big in this space suit?

cookieman's avatar

If yo ass look big, it ain’t da space suit honey!

ucme's avatar

Uranus is vast, round & no man has entered its atmosphere…

LadyMarissa's avatar

@rebbel THANKS for the best laugh I’ve had all day!!!

MrGrimm888's avatar

I expect a “who wore it better” piece on the covers of shopping isle magazines soon…

ragingloli's avatar

The whole thing has been cancelled, because NASA only now just realised, that they do not have a space suit in the proper size.

janbb's avatar

@loli.RDG said that several posts up.

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