One Giant Leap for Womankind ; Space Experts Plan to Land Females on the Moon

WHEN astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon 35 years ago, he hailed it as ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’.

Now European space experts want to get womankind in on the act, too by putting the first female on the moon.

Britain’s top female RAF pilots are among those being asked if they want to take part in the pioneering mission.

Only 43 women have flown in space, compared with 430 men, but the European Space Agency (ESA) hopes to start redressing the balance by launching a lunar rocket crewed mainly by women.

They would carry out experiments at a base the agency plans to establish on the moon.

It would be the biggest project so far carried out by the ESA. Its activities until now have been largely limited to sending up communications satellites not always successfully from its base in French Guiana. So few women have been into orbit that relatively little is known about the effects of space travel on their physical and psychological wellbeing.

First, the agency is looking for women to take part in a scientific study designed to test their adaptability.

The volunteers will spend 60 days in bed, with their heads tilted down at six degrees below horizontal, to simulate the effects of an extended period of weightlessness.

Those who pass that test could be invited to join a full-scale training programme for the moon mission.

ESA scientist Dr Peter Jost said: ‘We need to know more about how women react to being beyond the Earth’s atmosphere if this mission is to succeed.

‘More and more women are interested in space flight and in being astronauts.

‘Citizens of all European Union countries are welcome to apply to join this programme but recruiting from the RAF is certainly an avenue under investigation.’ Sheffield-born Helen Sharman became the first Briton in space when she beat 13,000 other applicants for a place on an Anglo-Soviet mission in 1991.

On an eight-day voyage, she orbited the Earth 16 times a day at 18,000mph en route to the Russian Mir space station.