55 Years After the First Moon Landing, Astronaut Cady Coleman is Sharing Space with a New Generation

A moon milestone was marked this weekend.

Fifty-five years ago on July 20th, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin made history as the first humans ever to set foot on the moon. As we marvel at this fact, one thought remains planted in my mind:

If in 1969 a woman had walked on the moon instead, would our lives be different?

Yes, says astronaut Cady Coleman, when we discuss it. Without question.

Our lives would be fundamentally different.

Cady would know. She has literally space-walked the walk.

In her newly-launched and breathtaking book Sharing Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change, Cady notes how many of her male astronauts friends cite being woken up from childhood sleep to watch the first moon landing as the moment they decided on their future career. “Sure, some of my female colleagues will tell the same story,” Cady continues, “but how many little girls never even saw that momentous event as it happened because their parents, like mine, never thought to wake them up?”

"Imagine it for a moment," she asks us in the book:

"All those kids tucked up in front of a TV witnessing a woman astronaut taking those very first steps on the moon. How many life stories could have unfolded differently because of that moment of inspiration? And how many assumptions about a woman’s potential, in all areas, might have been overturned?” - Ret. NASA astronaut Cady Coleman

We started to imagine...and couldn't stop.

A former NASA astronaut and retired US Air Force Colonel, Cady Coleman’s career has encompassed over 180 days in space – including two space shuttle missions and six months spent aboard the International Space Station (ISS), 250 miles above the Earth.

Given that fewer than 300 people have ever visited the ISS - and far fewer still have spent six months on board – Cady’s words land with meaning and next gen girls are clamoring to know more.  

For them, and for those of us who have always wanted to go to space, Sharing Space brings us there with vivid detail, gorgeous prose, and the feeling that anything in the universe is possible.

Below is an edited version of my recent interview with Cady – I’m grateful to her all over again for answering so many questions from star-struck Être girls:

Ê: Let’s start with the fact that we love this book! One thing, in particular, that resonated with us is that the book applies to so many careers; not just space! There are lessons about confidence and leadership that will impact women across the workforce in any industry. What do you want young women and girls eyeing the workforce to take away from this book?

CC: I would say that if you are passionate about something and want to change it, you can make it happen. And if you want to solve a problem, you can create the solution. I love the idea that these lessons are universal, and when it comes to leadership the idea of teamwork is important. For example, as a leader you might be sure about where you want to go, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t need other people to talk it through with – I think that’s important. Understand the skills you have that make the larger team work…that is important for every aspect of your life.

Also, women can often see the bigger picture in a situation. I’m careful about stereotyping, but I do think that women often understand how a team is doing and what they need to get from each team member for the whole team to move the project forward.

Ê: Did you have those skills – that ability to see the next steps needed or motivate a team – when you were a student? Did you know early that you wanted to use these skills in space?

CC: Not really! I knew I liked being part of groups, and they were usually groups I was excited about doing things with (sometimes academics and sometimes not), but it wasn’t until I got to college at MIT that I realized that could have this job. That being an astronaut was something that I could actually do.

Ê: You talk in the book about how the job is different for women. How you need to balance the demands of a partnership and children like all working parents, but that your job is very often off the planet. What helped you navigate that?

CC: We all want to do best by our kids, and it takes a team to do that. It’s easy to get hung up and worry about what you’re not providing, but you have to move past that. A black and white example of this would be the fact that we couldn’t spend as much time together as a family as we wished…so we worked really hard at finding ways to share our daily lives, through pictures and bringing things back and forth from one home to another. I really think that made a huge difference in knitting [our son’s] worlds together.

Ê: One question I got from a younger girl was about how you slept on the International Space Station? I was telling her the story about how your sleeping bag could be tethered to the wall or float freely – can you talk more about that part of daily life in space?

CC:  Yes! I just really loved the fact that you’re weightless in space. To me it meant two huge things: one that you be floating around, but two, and more importantly, that you could be flying! If you want to go anywhere you have to fly, so it’s really magical.

The whole idea that you are weightless each morning, to me, is the first clue that today has a million possibilities.

Ê: I think that should be printed on t-shirts! OK, last question: For girls who don’t feel like they are fitting in – or girls who worry that they’re dreams are a little too big, what wisdom do you want them to hang onto from this book?

CC: I want them to know that the fact that they even think that means that they’re already smarter about their situation and the future. They’re already observant – they see that this is the way things are usually done, but I don’t think that’s the way it would work best for me. They’re already looking ahead, and when they see role models they think, OK, I see people that look like me…maybe I could try to do that!

People ask me all the time about the spacesuit that was too big for me. And they would ask me, Do you fit in this? They would make jokes, but the answer is always, Yes. Yes, I do.

So, you have to realize that feeling like you might not fit in just means that you don’t fit in yet. And that’s because you are part of shaping the environment you are in. That’s the shape of the future.

And the shape of the future looks bright, I think, as we end our interview.

As a toddler who was woken up to watch the moon landing nestled among three generations of rapt viewers, I don't remember the moment. But I have a photograph of all of us, and in it my grandmother is holding fast to my small shoulder as we sit together.

What was she thinking? It might very well have been how different our lives will be from now on. Especially yours.

She was right. Because of the momentous steps taken in 1969 and those that followed by epic mentors like Cady Coleman, a new generation of girls can walk confidently in role model footsteps knowing that they belong in any space.

What could be a more powerful or magical message to share?

Looking forward and up,

Illana

ÊXTRAS: Three more links from astronaut Cady Coleman that will leave you awestruck: Cady’s TED Talk about what it’s really like to live in space, her feature in the spellbinding new movie Space: The Longest Goodbye, and her stellar advice to girls about bravery and filling out applications in The Epic Mentor Guide.