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Asian American Women in Space- Their accomplishments and legacy

7/24/2019

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by Hanna Bobrowicz 
Header graphic featuring photo of an astronaut and text reading
In the 50 years since Apollo first landed on the moon, the importance of racial and gender representation has occupied the national consensus. The New York Times published an article about Ed Dwight a man who was once set to be the first African American man in space.
(continued) You have to read the article to find out the reason this history didn’t occur, but the New York Times emphasized what an opportunity it was to progress both scientific and racial barriers in one space mission. At Pacific Atrocities Education we have decided to commemorate the Moon Landing by studying the accomplishments of Asian American women who have dedicated their lives to space.  

Kalpana Chawla

Picture
​Chawla was born in India and moved to the United States to complete her education and eventually her space training with NASA. She was the first Indian-born woman in space and completed several space missions throughout her career. When she returned from her first space mission in 1997 she reflected:
“I never truly thought of being the first or second someone. Or being a small-town girl. This 
is just something I wanted to do,”    
Throughout her career, Chawla spent over 30 days in space completing 2 missions. In 2003 Chawla and her team of Astronauts boarded a Space Shuttle Columbia to embark on another mission to space. Upon reentering the atmosphere, the space shuttle exploded killing all members on board. Despite her early death, her accomplishments make her a celebrated figure in both India and the United States. 

Lien Pham 

Picture
Pham describes her job as a ‘spacecraft dressmaker’ at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. She was born in Vietnam and immigrated to Los Angeles in the 1970s where she began work as a lingerie seamstress. In addition to her work as a seamstress, she also took night classes at a trade school. Pham’s skills got her recruited at NASA, and she worked on terrestrial vehicles and space satellites. 
    
In 2000 Pham began to construct thermal blankets, a vital aspect of safety for space travel. Pham explains; “A thermal blanket has to provide just the right amount of heat — not too much and not too little — for the spacecraft to operate correctly.” She still makes thermal blankets for space missions, she believes her career demonstrates that it is “ never too late to learn and take classes. There are a lot of people at JPL who didn’t start in science or engineering, but almost all of them have the drive to learn new skills or search for training.” She continues her work at NASA today. ​

Josephine Santiago-Bond

Santiago-Bond is a Filipina-American, who began her career at NASA in 2004 as a graduate intern at John F. Kennedy Space Center. Today she is a Systems Engineer and Head of the Advanced Engineering Development Branch. She has developed new space technologies and worked on the LADEE Lunar Mars mission. Santiago-Bond is also an innovator she invented the branch she is now in charge of, she acts as a supervisor and mentor for engineers and interns in the space program. She reflects “I always feel that I am valued not only for my engineering and leadership skills but also as an Asian American and as a Filipina American, who brings a unique set of experiences and ideas to the table every day.”
The legacy of Asian American culture exists within the walls of NASA and other space programs throughout the United States. While many glorify the men who were the first to walk the moon, it is important to recognize the people of color and women who continue to transcend the barriers of science while also breaking social barrier in their country. 

References: 
Dr. Kalpana Chawla: Quiet and Modest but also Determined. The New York Times. Lydia Polgreen, February 2003.  
A Woman’s Place is In Space: Meet 8 Asian American Women Reaching for the Stars. KCET. Teena Apeles, July 2019. 
A Woman on a Mission: How this Fil-Am Engineer Rose through the Ranks at NASA. 
The Asian Journal. Christina M. Oriel March 2019. 
 100 Women: The Women who Sew for NASA. The BBC. Mary Hiltion, November 2017. 
Ed Dwight Was Set to Be the First Black Astronaut. Here’s Why That Never Happened. The New 
York Times, Emily Ludolph. July 2019. 

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  • Home
    • About >
      • FAQ's - Frequently Asked Questions
    • Support Us >
      • Projects you can support! >
        • Distributing Books
        • Presenting at 112th Annual Meeting of Pacific Coast Branch
        • Summer Research Relocation Fund
    • Contact
  • Stories
    • Videos >
      • Black Hearts (2021)
    • Blog
    • Podcast: Forgotten History
  • Internship
    • Summer 2023 Internship
    • Fall 2022 Internship
    • Summer 2022 Internship
    • Summer 2021 Internship
    • Fall 2020- Spring 2021 Internship
    • Summer 2020 Internship
    • Fall 2019 Internship
    • Summer 2019 Internship >
      • Public History Night
    • School Year 2018-2019 Internship
    • Summer 2018 Internship >
      • 2018 Summer Showcase + Fundraiser
    • Fall 2017 Internship
    • Summer 2017 Internship >
      • 2017 Summer Showcase & Fundraiser
  • Books
  • Archives
  • Resource Page
    • Supplementary Research Guides >
      • Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Background of Biochemical Warfare Development
        • Imperial Japan's Chemical Warfare Development Program
        • Map of Unit 731
        • Personnel of Unit 731
        • Duties of Unit 731
        • Human Experimentation
        • [GRAPHIC] Germ Warfare Attacks
        • Cover Ups After the War
        • [OLD] Cover Ups After the War
      • Philippines' Resistance - Guide >
        • Philippines World War II Timeline
        • The Japanese Invasion & Conquest of the Philippines
        • Bataan Death March
        • Formation of Underground Philippines Resistance
        • Supplies of the Guerrilla Fighters
        • The Hukbalahap
        • Hunter's ROTC
        • Marking's Guerrillas
        • United States Army Forces in the Philippines of Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
        • The Aetas
        • Chinese and Filipino-Chinese Nationalist Guerrilla Units
        • The Female Faces of the Philippine Guerrillas
      • Rising Sun Flag - Guide >
        • History of the Rising Sun Flag
        • Atrocities Committed Under the Flag
        • Rising Sun Flag in Pop Culture
      • Pinay Guerrilleras - Guide >
        • Japanese Occupation of the Philippine Islands: Pinays Answering the Call to Arms
        • The Fierce Heneralas and Kumanders of the Hukbalahap Guerrillas
        • Amazons of the Pacific Theater
        • Filipina American Veterans: Recovering the Extraordinary Feats of the Ordinary Pinays
        • The Legacy of the Asian Women Soldier
      • Fall of Singapore - Guide >
        • Singapore World War II Timeline
        • History of World War II in the Pacific
        • History of Singapore
        • Japan's Conquest in Asia
        • Japan's Invasion of the Malay Peninsula
        • Sook Ching Massacre
        • Double Tenth Incident
        • Social Changes and Challenges in Singapore
        • Voices from Syonan
        • Return to British Rule
      • Three Years and Eight Months - Guide >
        • Hong Kong before WW2
        • Buildup to World War 2
        • The Battle of Hong Kong
        • Life during 3 Years and 8 Months
        • East River Column Guerrilla Fighters
        • Prisoners of War Camps
        • End of Japanese Occupation
        • War Crimes Trials
      • Siamese Sovereignty - Guide >
        • The Land of Smiles
        • The Thai-Japanese Relationship
        • Phibun’s Domestic and International Policies
        • The Free Thai Resistance Movement
        • Post WW2 Aftermath of Thailand
      • The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Guide >
        • Defendants of Khabarovsk War Crime
        • The Japanese Empire and USSR in WW2
        • The Employment of the Bacteriological Weapon in the War
        • Planning of Japan invasion to USSR
      • Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East - Guide >
        • Establishing Manchukuo
        • The Development of Unit 731
        • Plan Kantokuen and Bacteriological Warfare
        • The Downfall of the Japanese WW2 Era
        • Three Stages of Interrogations
        • Lasting Impacts
      • Marutas of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • How did Ishii Shiro start unit 731?
        • A Beta Testing Site
        • Establishing Pingfan
        • Experiences at the Human Experimentation Complex
        • Vivisection at the Unit 731
        • Anta Testing Grounds
        • Overall Advance from the Laboratory Creations
        • The End of the War
      • Prince Konoe Memoir - Guide >
        • Who is Prince Konoe?
        • Preparation to Tripartite Pact
        • Emperor Hirohito and Prince Konoe
        • The End of Prince Konoe
      • Competing Empires in Burma - Guide >
        • What was the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • When did the China-Burma-India Theater Happen?
        • Who Fought in the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • The Second Sino Japanese War
        • Japan in the South
        • Operation U-Go
      • Battle of Shanghai - Guide >
        • The Battle of Shanghai. Background
        • Shanghai Before War
        • The First Battle of Shanghai 1932
        • Battle of Shanghai 1937
        • Aftermath of Battle for Shanghai
      • Ishi Shiro - Guide >
        • History of Biological Weapons and The Young Ishii Shiro
        • Establishment in Manchuria
        • Pingfang District - Harbin
        • Failures and Corruption
        • Post War
      • Taiwan The Israel of the East - Guide >
        • Background of Formosa
        • Industrialization of Japan
        • China During WWII
        • Taiwan under Kuomintang
        • New Taiwanese National Identity
      • Seeking Justice for Biological Warfare Victims of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Introduction of Wang Xuan
        • Colonel Memorandum
        • The Beginning of Biological Warfare
        • The Bacteriological Warfare on China
        • Victims in Zhejiang’s Testimonies
        • After the War
      • Rice and Revolution - Guide >
        • The French Colonial Period
        • Anti-Colonial Resistance
        • The Rise of the Communist Movement
        • Imperial Japan’s Entry into Indochina
        • The Portents of Famine
        • The Famine (1944-45)
        • Legacy of the 1944-45 Vietnam Famine
      • Clash of Empires - Guide >
        • Japan’s Imperialist Origins
        • Japan’s Competition against the West: Nanshin-ron and Hokushin-ron
        • Japanese Imperialism Through the Lens of French Indochina
        • The U.S.-Japan Relations and the Pearl Harbor Attack
      • Hunger for Power and Self-SufficiencyI - Guide >
        • The Influence of War Rations on Post-War Culinary Transformations
        • How World War II Complicated Food Scarcity and Invention
        • American Military Innovations
        • Government-Sponsored Food Inventions in Europe during World War II
        • Feeding the Army: The Adaptation of Japanese Military Cuisine and Its Impact on the Philippines
        • Mixed Dishes: Culinary Innovations Driven by Necessity and Food Scarcity
    • Lesson Plans >
      • Reparations
      • Ethics in Science
      • Writing the Narrative of a Pinay Fighter
      • Privilege Journal
      • Environmental Injustices
      • Female Guerrillas
      • Hunter's ROTC
      • Scientific Advancements
      • Seeking Justice: A Humanities Lesson Plan
      • The Hukbalahap
      • Trading Immunity
      • Bataan Death March
      • Biochemical Warfare Development
Contribute