4 women photographed in space

 

As we explained in this article, flight STS-131 made by Discovery is the third space shuttle mission to have 3 women aboard. What’s more, the International Space Station is currently home to a crew of 6 astronauts, including one woman. The sum is easy: 3+1 = 4, an absolute record for the number of women simultaneously in space.
When Discovery docked with the Station on 7 April 2010, a photograph immortalising the event was taken. But, due to the breakdown of the space shuttle’s high rate Ku Band radio link (see this article), all video and picture documents from the STS-131 mission have to be transmitted via the ISS’ communication system, which takes longer. The historic pictures are, however, now available.

4 women in space! The photographic record was taken in the International Space Station’s Russian Zvezda module. From left to right: Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Naoko Yamazaki, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Stephanie Wilson. All are American with the exception of Naoko Yamazaki who is Japanese. Metcalf-Lindenburger, Yamazaki and Wilson are members of the space shuttle Discovery crew. Caldwell Dyson is part of Expedition 23 on the ISS. Credit: NASA

2 other group photographs, also taken in the Zvezda module. Credit: NASA

Another record has been broken with STS-131: for the first time, two Japanese astronauts are in orbit at the same time.
With its last but one flight, Discovery has passed a milestone, showing that the end of the space shuttle programme is near: this is to be the last time that one of NASA’s space planes blasts off with 7 astronauts on board. The three remaining missions (STS-132, 134 and 133) will only have crews of six members.

From left to right: Soichi Noguchi and Naoko Yamazaki symbolically pose inside the Japanese Kibo laboratory. This is the first time that two astronauts from the Land of the Rising Sun have been together in space. Credit: NASA

Published on 13 April 2010

Thanks to Mike Gentry from the Media Resource Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.