Space Policy Doesn’t Suit Women by LeEarl A. Bryant, PE. (NAPSA)—YvonneBrill, a mem- ber of the National Academyof Engineering (NAE) and an acclaimed rocket-developmentengineer, has a new mission: keep our women astronauts in space. Ms. Brill, who previously served on NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, is driven by NASA’s decision to suspend developmentof a smallsized space suit. The smaller suit would benefit 20 percent of the astronaut corps—including smaller stature men, according to a report obtained by Science magazine. The decision comes at a time when only one woman astronaut is scheduled to participate in space station projects between LeEarl Bryantis the first woman president of IEEE-USA, the U.S. career and public-policy arm of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. You can reach of current space suits comes in women to manage, giving them a lower score in vying for coveted slots on spaceflights. Should the American public be concerned about this issue? I believe the answer is absolutely yes. Without a proper suit for 2002-2005. The new suits would makeit easier for some women to perform the complex maneuvers required to work in space and on the space station. The hard upper torso portion three sizes: medium, large and extra large. They fit about 90 percent of all men, but only 60 percent of women, Science reported. The smaller suit would accommodate at least seven women in the current astronaut corps and might have been more comfortable and maneuverable for more than a dozen others, according to the Discovery Channel’s Discovery News. Because current suits are not as good a fit, they put some womenat a disadvantagein qualifying tests. In orderto fly, astronauts must demonstrate their maneuverability in Houston’s Johnson Space Center Neutral Buoyancy Lab. The hard upper torso makes it difficult for some her at president @ ieeeusa.org. working in the space station environment, information on how women adapt to the new frontier will be diminished, our young women will lose valuable role models, and a major step will be taken toward closing space to half of our population. NASAsays its decision to suspend the $16 million program is because of budget pressures. If you think this is poor policy, contact your congressional represen- tatives. Small size does not equal small contributions.
