Russia’s space agency to address gender imbalance by adding more females to its squad of cosmonauts, Roscosmos chief reveals
Russian space agency Roscosmos expects to add more females to its squad of cosmonauts in the upcoming year, after a project conducted on state TV that led to 3,000 girls filling in questionnaires stating they wish to go to space.
That’s according to Roscomos chief Dmitry Rogozin, who revealed on Thursday that the company would try to address its gender imbalance.
“After we rolled out the Challenge project with Channel One, we had about 3,000 questionnaires from girls who would like to do a space flight,” Rogozin told the New Knowledge educational ‘marathon’.
“We are counting on the fact that this year, next year, we will have a lot more girls in the cosmonaut corps,” he said.
According to Rogozin, adding more women will improve the psychological climate at the International Space Station.
Also on rt.com To celebrate upcoming 60th anniversary of human space flight, Barbie creates toy inspired by Russia’s only active female cosmonaut“Training methods allow women to fully endure loads, tests, and conduct complex experiments on board the station on a par with men,” he explained.
Earlier this year, American toy company Mattel chose Russian astronaut Anna Kikina as the model for a new Barbie doll, a part of the company’s campaign aimed at inspiring young girls with role models from all professions and walks of life. Kikina is the only female cosmonaut in the entire Roscosmos squad, and plans are in place for her to go into space next year.
“I didn’t dream of becoming an astronaut when I was a kid,” Kikina said in an interview. “But if I had a Barbie cosmonaut doll, the idea would have probably been born in my head, even then.”
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