NASA training chief says first person on Mars ‘should be a woman’

Only twelve people have ever walked on the surface of the moon – and every single one of them was a man.

That’s why it makes sense that the first person on Mars should be a woman, says Alison McIntyre, Chief of NASA’s Space Vehicle Mockup Facility.

McIntyre is in charge of a NASA facility with life-size replicas of space vehicles, where astronauts train before going into orbit.

McIntyre, a 20-year veteran of human space flight says that women are under-represented in science and engineering both in the UK and America.

That’s why it makes sense for the first person to step on Mars to be a woman, says McIntyre.

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Speaking to Radio Five Live, she said, ‘My centre director is a woman, my former division chief is a woman.

‘We have female astronauts, but we haven’t put a woman on the Moon yet, and I think the first person on Mars should be a woman.’