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Many African-American women participate in U.S. space program
Tuesday, February 29, 2000
As we move from Black History Month in February into Women's History Month in March, it is interesting to note African-American women are contributing their talents in support of NASA's mission and goals.
Among them is Patricia S. Cowings, a research psychologist at Ames Research Center. She was the first female scientist trained to be an astronaut. Cowings was a backup payload specialist but never got to fly.
Cowings has developed flight experiments for space shuttle missions. She also studies how people adapt to space.
Aprille Ericsson-Jackson is an aerospace engineer at Goddard Space Flight Center, where she conducts simulations on spacecraft designs to understand how they might behave during flight.
While working on several projects in college geared toward manned space flight, Ericsson-Jackson developed a desire to be an astronaut. She applied to NASA's astronaut program but was placed on a medical review for asthma and an early operation on her knee.
Laurie Marshall is an aerospace engineer at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, where she has been studying aircraft performance. Her work has included measuring and collecting data associated with altitude, airspeed and pitch angle.
Marshall received her private pilot's license in 1987. Her goal is to become an astronaut.
Find out more about women of NASA on the Web at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/ intro.html.
-- Jenny Pon, astronomer, Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium & Observatory
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