Rebecca Yeung, a 10 year old girl, and her 8 year old sister, Kimberly, built a spacecraft with their father and launched it into space over Moses Lake, Washington during Labor Day weekend. Their spacecraft, created out of wood, parts of arrow shafts, and a high altitude balloon, reached over 78,000 feet! The efforts of these two young girls even drew the attention of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Plans for their next launch are already in progress, as well as ideas for their own future--Kimberly would like to become a robotic engineer, and Rebecca also plans to pursue a STEM-related occupation. Looks like they are off to a great start!!
You can read more about Rebecca, Kimberly, and their space launch in this great article by Todd Bishop at GeekWire:
You can even watch Rebecca and Kimberly build their spacecraft and launch it into space on this YouTube video: (click on the link below or watch the embedded video in this post)
Anthropologist's Note: Space intersects with being female in several ways. For example, the relatively small number of women in STEM fields, including the space sciences, is a topic of concern. Extra efforts are being made by many outreach programs to encourage young girls to pursue an education and career in STEM fields. The basic issue of gender and space will be a topic that recurs in future blog posts.
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