Pam Melroy
On the eve of NASA's historic 100th shuttle flight, rookie astronaut Pam Melroy is about to become only the third woman to pilot one of NASA's winged orbiters.
Pam Melroy
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And while the apparent dearth of female shuttle pilots might sound like gender-inequity to some, Melroy is quick to note that NASA already is dipping deep into the available talent pool.
Consider first the fact that shuttle pilots must have experience flying high-performance jets, which means that most come to NASA from the various branches of the U.S. military.
Add the fact that shuttle pilots also must hold an advanced technical degree and few women now qualify for the job.
"You know, only 3 or 4 percent of military pilots are women," Melroy said in a recent interview with SPACE.com. "Now out of that small percentage, how many have the right technical degree?"
The correct answer: Not many.
"I'm going to say there's probably on the order of a dozen women in the world who have that particular set of qualifications," Melroy said.
"And the fact that [NASA has] three of us - that means 25 percent of the qualified women are here, which is a really high percentage, actually," she said. "That's the real reason why the numbers seem very small. It's because the pool out there is small. But it's growing every day."
Now-veteran astronaut Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a shuttle on a high-profile mission to rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir in February 1995. Susan Kilrain became NASA's second female shuttle pilot in April 1997.
The fact that a woman is piloting Discovery might not be front-page news anymore, but "it's still a big deal to my mother," Melroy said.
That said, Melroy fully expects the ranks of female space pilots to swell in the next decade as the young women of today reach out and grab opportunity tomorrow.
"I see a difference in young women. They are much more willing to try to do something that's maybe just a little bit outside of the ordinary," Melroy said.
"Flying - and maybe the very concept of putting yourself into a situation that has a little bit of an adrenaline rush -- is not considered unladylike anymore," she added.
"So I think the doors are really open now, and I think that it will just be absolutely no blip on the radar in 10 years to even think about it."
Melroy, 39, is a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel making her first shuttle flight. Her responsibilities on Discovery's mission will include overseeing the health of all orbiter systems and undocking the shuttle from the International Space Station.
Married with no children, Melroy considers Rochester, New York her hometown. A Gulf War combat veteran, Melroy has logged more than 4,000 hours of flight time in more than 45 different aircraft.
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