NASA & Artemis 1 in MEW324. (On the wire)

I've been reading the article about the Artemis1 project by NASA in MEW324. Quite interesting until I came to the penultimate paragraph where the article says that "NASA will land the first women and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon,"

Just what has a person's colour got to do with Lunar exploration? I can just about understand that the first woman may be appropriate, but I do not accept that reference to a persons colour has any relevance in what is a scientific project.

I'd be interested to know what other people think.

Peter G. Shaw

Oh dear, that should put the cat amongst the pigeons!

Andrew.

I agree with Peter, there is no relevance whatsoever. How very clumsy of NASA to make that statement

Brian

I guess it has more to do with diversity than science. But why would you think noting the first woman more appropriate than the first person of colour ( a term that sounds strained to me but that is how it goes these days)? Seems two sides of the same coin to me. First woman, first person of colour, much of a muchness. Reference to either has no bearing on their scientific capabilities.

You possibly need to have lived in the USA to appreciate the full significance of the racial implications, given the relatively recent history of slavery and the continuing bitter oppression of African Americans there, both individual and institutional. Much much more so than in the UK and Commonwealth. The US locals were still stringing them up by the neck from trees as recently as 1981.  For them to be included in a lunar landing 40-odd years later is perhaps a sign of progress, and thus worth noting.

Edited By Hopper on 25/01/2023 12:54:48

They {NASA} should be picking the best people for the job, seems obvious doesn't it? Our police force sorry service has dumbed down their entry standard and look where that has led.

Tony

My interpretation is that NASA are admitting that in the past this has not necessarily been the case. The rather good film "Hidden Figures" emphasises how recent these issues are and that NASA did do a little bit to ignore racial origins.

Rod

Does landing a person on the moon have a major scientific purpose? The moon is visited by robots and samples could be returned remotely (the latter not done yet but well within engineering capabilities).

Just like the previous programme 50 or so years ago this is more about politics than science. The US government gives NASA the money and writes the terms and conditions.

JA

If NASA would like to take the bold step of landing a 69 year old with ginger hair on the moon, they will have to look elsewhere. I'm busy.

P.S. I am also half Welsh/half English.

I've often wondered how this sort of thing works out: is it left/right halves or top/bottom halves?

.... er ... yes, the Russians did it in the 1970's iirc.

I stand corrected. I cannot think why I did not know about it.

JA

If they would land a 38 year old with ginger hair on the moon and not bring him back they would be doing us all a favour. You know who I mean!

They could make it a double landing by including a lady of colour , to keep him company