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New York Times Blasts Space Program During Week Marking 50th Anniversary of Apollo Landing, Setting Twitter Ablaze

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  July 18, 2019 7:30 AM

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, but instead of celebrating one of the most remarkable achievements in history, The New York Times decided to focus on another aspect of the story: sexism.

“The Apollo program was designed by men, for men. If we do not acknowledge the gender bias of the early space program, it becomes difficult to move past it,” read the tweet promoting the article, which was titled “To Make It to the Moon, Women Have to Escape Earth’s Gender Bias.”

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, NASA has started Artemis, a program that aims “to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024, including the first woman and the next man.”

Although both astronauts have enormous challenges ahead, the first woman will face added hurdles simply because everything in space carries the legacy of Apollo. It was designed by men, for men.

Not deliberately for men, perhaps, but women were not allowed in the astronaut program until the late 1970s, and none flew until Sally Ride became the first American woman in space, in 1983. By this point, the space program was built around male bodies.

If we do not acknowledge the gender bias of the early space program, it becomes difficult to move past it. (NYT)

Among the issues the author discusses are the sizes of spacesuits and the cooling garments used underneath. 

As one can suspect, Twitter had a field day with the story.