Why does Russians now have so few female cosmonauts given the fact they was the first who send first woman into space?

[wumpus]

16 hours ago, peadar1987 said:

Wasn't there some anime about a Japanese space programme consisting of teenagers, because they were lighter? Get your dry mass down with female cosmonauts

No astronaut chosen before the Space Shuttle was 6' tall (and I'm not sure about the Shuttle: this is from Micheal Collins excellent memoir of his time in the space program: "Carrying the Fire" so he didn't talk about shuttle astronauts), although a few could be relatively stocky (although probably not the original 7, those Mercury capsules fit like a glove).  I know of earlier programs that suggested using pilots no heavier than 100lbs, so somebody at the conference suggested it would be easier finding women of such weight (he was astonished of the support/fan mail he received from women who heard about it).  NASA even chose and trained a bunch of women as astronauts, but it would have taken a vast more push behind it to overcome 1950s-60s attitudes (it didn't help that there eventually was friction between the women chosen/trained and the woman who got the whole thing started).

Micheal Collins comments implied that reduced size may have been ideal for early capsules, but he didn't think dealing with issues of "coed" long term flights (he flew multi-week gemini and apollo missions - extremely long term for the tiny size of the capsule).  You would presumably want 2 women for gemini and 3 for apollo.  ISS flights shouldn't have that problem, and if it pops up again to Mars (months!), your spacecraft is far too small.

There was also a "throw away" comment in Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers about spaceships typically having women pilots due to ability to handle higher G forces, but I suspect the research didn't quite exist at the time (the book was written immediately after Ike banned nuclear weapons tests).

[magnemoe]

8 hours ago, wumpus said:

No astronaut chosen before the Space Shuttle was 6' tall (and I'm not sure about the Shuttle: this is from Micheal Collins excellent memoir of his time in the space program: "Carrying the Fire" so he didn't talk about shuttle astronauts), although a few could be relatively stocky (although probably not the original 7, those Mercury capsules fit like a glove).  I know of earlier programs that suggested using pilots no heavier than 100lbs, so somebody at the conference suggested it would be easier finding women of such weight (he was astonished of the support/fan mail he received from women who heard about it).  NASA even chose and trained a bunch of women as astronauts, but it would have taken a vast more push behind it to overcome 1950s-60s attitudes (it didn't help that there eventually was friction between the women chosen/trained and the woman who got the whole thing started).

Micheal Collins comments implied that reduced size may have been ideal for early capsules, but he didn't think dealing with issues of "coed" long term flights (he flew multi-week gemini and apollo missions - extremely long term for the tiny size of the capsule).  You would presumably want 2 women for gemini and 3 for apollo.  ISS flights shouldn't have that problem, and if it pops up again to Mars (months!), your spacecraft is far too small.

There was also a "throw away" comment in Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers about spaceships typically having women pilots due to ability to handle higher G forces, but I suspect the research didn't quite exist at the time (the book was written immediately after Ike banned nuclear weapons tests).

Fighter  jets often have an height limit, F16 has as you want to fit inside the tolerance of the ejection seat system like your head is lower than the spike who might have to penetrate the canopy and your knees should not impact the instrument panels. On the other hand your feet should reach the pedals Some ladies might be to small, military has enough pilots to choose from so they can don't let the 20% outside the bell curve not fly fighter jets. 

Yes its some exceptions, Germany during WW2 had some petite female test pilots for stuff like an maned prototype for the V1 cruise missile with landing gear and cockpit. The only way to find out how it handled in the air was to fly it, you would need something larger for remote control. 

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

5 hours ago, magnemoe said:

On the other hand your feet should reach the pedals

That's no problem at all. An ideal F16 pilot.

 

Edited June 15, 2018 by kerbiloid

[General Apocalypse]

23 hours ago, Northstar1989 said:

As a published Biologist with a graduate degree,

You are not a published biologist let get one thing straight . Your information is Wikipedia grade at best.

The original radiation assumption holds true - the mutation acquiring rate for oocytes is much higher the the mutation acquiring rate for the seminiferous tubules . Even the body's response to a simple cold can induce mutations to the female reproductive system let alone prolonged exposure to various levels of ionizing radiation.

However this does not constitute a reason for not training additional female cosmonauts. If you do want to look for a reason look at how high levels of stress impact the response time in each gender. The males tend to be able to better endure a very high stress situation such as a potentially fatal fire or malfunction. However this too could have been overcome by sending mixed teams.

That solution comes with it's own set of problems , notably that the biologic impulse when confined for a long time in a place with a member of the opposite sex is to ignore orders and furfil the carnal desires. Suppression of this impulse takes away valuable time and mental capacity required for a mission. Given that the Soviet regime didn't cared about anything but blind obedience (else gulag) you could see how their demented perception of humanity would give them reasons to keep space sex free.

Still the real reason probably lies in the fact that the Soviet space program was on a shoestring budget after the Apollo program.

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

13 minutes ago, General Apocalypse said:

the mutation acquiring rate for oocytes is much higher the the mutation acquiring rate for the seminiferous tubules

Does anybody know another such game forum?

 

Spoiler

17 minutes ago, General Apocalypse said:

However this too could have been overcome by sending mixed teams.

And any gentleman will first save the ladies, not the ship.

 

[wumpus]

9 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

  Hide contents

That's no problem at all. An ideal F16 pilot.

 

Which makes a wonderful question for sci-fi/steampunk writers (and better yet, screenwriters).  Does regular use of a corset improve the effectiveness of a G-suit (or ability to fly a plane in a much tighter G-suit)?  Corsets might have been well out of date for post-war programs, but girdles certainly weren't (which probably wouldn't have nearly the effect).  Steampunk could certainly take advantage of such things.

[Vanamonde]

Reproductive biology, corsets, and high heels are not suitable topics for discussion on this forum.