Women astronauts on the moon

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Well, women's voices will now be heard shouting and yelling of great things within and without that vacuum.

"Nine women are among the 18 astronauts who will train for NASA's upcoming Artemis missions, with the goal of sending humans back to the moon and, eventually, to Mars. The space agency is aiming for a 2024 moon landing — and this time, it won't just be men making the trip".

We had just watched the recording of the unfortunate explosion that occurred with the space shuttle Challenger in January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after liftoff. Commiserated with the loss of Columbia on February 1, 2003, as it disintegrated on reentry into the atmosphere. We lamented again the loss of fourteen blessed lives lost so that we could advance to the point that we find ourselves today. They have paved the way for us as women to advance in the eagerly awaited exploration of outer space.

May they be happily awaiting our visit to join them in the open universe.

Rather than be daunted by the past, we, the seven women in training to manage and operate the next space shuttle, are assimilating and learning with great excitement. It has taken us two years of training, including learning how to operate as a team by flying the NASA T-38 training jets.

It's important that each training program emphasize similar skills, and select astronauts with the best skills and temperament for each job. Exercise is a huge part of an astronaut's life, both on the ground in training, and in space.

Being women from a diverse ethnicity and backgrounds, we have learned the intricacies of the different personalities, our likes and dislikes, our lives, loves, family connections, insecurities and strengths. We have become our own tightly knit family, the first step to a successful mission together. There are survival training classes, language training, public speaking, medical procedure training, we have taken 'mock up' trainings on life-size space vehicles to get a feel of what we will be doing in space. On a mock space shuttle we also learn how it will feel to move about in space. We are prepped and prepared for the many aspects of weightlessness, or microgravity. In increments of 20 to 25 seconds of zero gravity training, for even that brief amount of weightlessness, even the most seasoned astronaut can become sick to the stomach. We even practice for hours underwater to do our spacewalks.

Finally, we are ready. We will be the first women to walk on the moon. I am Commander Alona Blackston, and it will be my job to lead this historic and momentous all female mission to the moon. Angela Greyson is the computer specialist, Marta and Cecilia Jenkins (twins) are engineers, Mara Whitney will provide our medical needs, Zoe Frankson is our pilot and Alecia Sparks is our jack of all trades, including being an expert on firearms and ammunition, a whiz kid, who is my second in command. Hopefully we will not need to defend ourselves against space enemies.

After tearful goodbyes to family, friends and ground crew, we have been strapped aboard our space shuttle the 'Magnalena'.

"Magnalena Luna44 you are a go for weather".

"Luna copy, go for weather".

"Please close all visors and arm launch escape system".

"Visors coming closed. Launch escape system verified armed".

All initial preparations completed, we were given the green light.

"Magnalena Luna44, you are a go for launch"!

"We are prepped and ready for launch".

"Launch is a go in, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Launch".

There was much nail biting, pacing, fretting and praying for a safe journey into orbit. Everything went as it should and we are safely on our way.

We are now successfully on our way to our destination, amidst much cheering and thumbs up from the hard working people on the ground. Triumphantly we are on our way to realizing the fundamental breakthrough of using reusable rockets to enable us to become a multi planet species. Thanks to the partnership of commercial companies like Spacex, and our launch company Luna44, our dreams are literally taking flight. From the Moon onwards to Mars.

"Magnalena Luna44, everything looks great so far".

"Thanks to everyone, we are now in orbit going maybe 25 times the speed of sound, there is a bit of shaking and jolting, probably the ship pushing into new territory. Anyway, it's now rest time, so goodnight for now to all of our families and everyone, Magnalena signing off".

"So girls, we made it into orbit. It's so dark right now, we should get some sleep after some very uncomfortable attempts at toiletries, high fives all around to our success".

"You know it. Won't be easy in these suits". Angela said. Everyone nodded, laughing in agreement.

We got a bit of sleep and hailed the control crew in the morning. Our mission control specialist was Janie Edmonds.

"Good morning Janie, good morning everyone, we spent a restful night, slept a little, and now we are looking forward to contacting the space station today. We are travelling at the speed of over 17000 miles an hour around the planet, It is a beautiful day out there".

Janie was our eyes and ears on the ground, making sure that everything was as it should be, so far all was going very well.

We docked successfully at the space station and were welcomed by the crew with hearty high fives and congratulations. There is cargo to unload, but that can wait for later. Finally we could shed our spacesuits and join the ranks of the somersaulting folks in zero gravity on the moon. After a few hours of acclimating to our new environment, we were invited to a tour of our new home for the next year of space life. We floated and somersaulted to find our tiny rooms, the bathroom (which is going to be a challenge all it's own). How do you get bathroom stuff to stay where you put it, this is definitely harder for women than men. We learned that too, in a funny but serious sort of way. Our bed was a sleeping bag attached to a wall, we had a laptop computer and everything, the compartment was small, but looked comfy.

After an extensive tour of the facilities and giving a helping hand to the everyday activities. it was time to get some exercise in. This was of extreme importance to prevent bone and muscle loss. We have to exercise for at least two hours every day. The equipment used in space is specially designed for zero gravity, lifting 200 pounds in space is not the same as earth, it is much lighter.

After a few days of getting the feel and layout of the inside, it is time to go outside.

"John, the commander of the space station joked that it was , one small step for women, one giant leap for womankind". He was not very wrong. Only we wanted to coin our own phrase. We donned our spacesuits and prepared for the most exciting and long awaited phase of the trip.

THE SPACEWALK!

"Ladies, it is now your turn to make history"!

The hatch opened and together we all made our debut walk on the surface of the moon.

"For women everywhere, we can be anything we want to be", we shouted together.

We hugged and cried a little. Those spacesuits sure made for awkward embraces.

We ran and jumped, albeit in almost slow motion, and enjoyed our new found exhilaration in space. While we walked we got to see sunrises and sunsets as we orbited the earth. How small we appear in the vastness and beauty of this universe. What great purpose is instilled in our souls to fill the need to do more, to want more, be more.

It is truly awe inspiring and wonderful!

We now look forward to being a part of the great plans to develop a fully reusable launch system with the goal of going to the moon and creating colonies on mars and beyond.

A new and improved world awaits!

N.A.

Disclosure: Some ideas for this story borrowed from 'Return to space'. Elon Musk's Spacex documentary.