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The Artemis II mission, which will carry astronauts around the moon, is scheduled to launch tomorrow. It includes the first Black astronaut and the first woman ever assigned to a lunar mission. NASA officials had once celebrated these firsts, but not lately, as Katia Riddle reports.
KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE: Black astronauts, as well as women, have flown in space for decades, but neither have ever flown on a moon mission until now. Here's former NASA administrator Bill Nelson announcing the crew a few years ago.
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BILL NELSON: She's no stranger to breaking records. Your mission specialist, Christina Hammock Koch.
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RIDDLE: In addition to Koch, the crew includes Victor Glover, who is Black. At the time of this announcement, Nelson sounded proud of these milestones.
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NELSON: The first woman and the first person of color will take giant leaps on the lunar surface.
RIDDLE: That was back in 2023. Language celebrating this diversity has largely disappeared from NASA's website and rhetoric since Trump took office. He signed an executive order directing federal agencies to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs. AJ Link represents Black In Astro, a group that advocates for Black representation and participation in this field.
AJ LINK: There's still a lot of discrimination, racism, frustration that comes with being Black in the space industry.
RIDDLE: NASA has not publicly said it changed its messaging. Leadership from the agency did not respond to requests for comment on this story. Link says not celebrating progress in diversifying the space workforce, it's a mistake.
LINK: There are a lot of Black firsts in the space industry, even in this day. To back away from that or to erase that, I think, is wrong.
RIDDLE: The first Black astronaut to travel into space was Guion Bluford. He flew on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983. Since then, there have been other notable Black people in space, such as Mae Jemison or Leland Melvin. But these names aren't nearly as established in American folklore as moon walkers Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin from the 1960s, says Margaret Weitekamp.
MARGARET WEITEKAMP: The homogeneity of the Astronaut Corps - all white, Christian men, married with children, jet test piloting experience - was seen at the time as hallmark of the exclusivity of the program.
RIDDLE: Weitekamp is a historian at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. She says women have also been fighting an uphill battle for representation among astronauts. She wrote a book on this subject.
WEITEKAMP: The first women are admitted to the Astronaut Corps in 1978 as a part of that class, and they started flying with the space shuttle program in the early 1980s.
RIDDLE: According to its own data, since NASA began selecting astronauts, roughly 80% have been men. Today, the men still outnumber women, but there is more parity. Weitekamp says diversifying has helped NASA achieve an unprecedented amount of skill and talent in its workforce.
WEITEKAMP: Part of that is a reflection of opening up opportunities in other parts of society.
RIDDLE: AJ Link with the group Black In Astro says NASA's choice not to acknowledge this recent progress on DEI in space is a missed opportunity. Space exploration, he says, has always been bigger than one policy, administration or demographic.
LINK: Our relationship with the moon and the stars in the night sky is one of the oldest relationships we have in this world, and it's precious.
RIDDLE: Space, says AJ Link, belongs to everyone. Katia Riddle, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF KENDRICK LAMAR SONG, "SING ABOUT ME, I'M DYING OF THIRST") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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