In this photo provided by NASA, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft on board is seen above the Mobile Launcher on Launch Pad 39B, Tuesday, Aug. 30, at the Space Center Kennedy of NASA in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA’s Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems. [Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP]
Artemis I will send an unmanned rocket on a month-long journey around the Moon. The program aims to increase the participation of women in space exploration: 30% of its engineers are women. In addition, the Artemis I mission will carry two dummies designed to study the effects of radiation on women’s bodies so NASA can learn how to better protect female astronauts.
Currently, female astronauts are less likely to be selected for missions than men because their bodies tend to reach NASA’s maximum acceptable radiation threshold earlier. NASA hopes to bring the first woman and person of color to the Moon on Artemis III sometime after 2024.
As a scholar of Greek mythology, I find the name of the mission quite evocative: the Greeks and Romans associated Artemis with the Moon, and she has also become a modern feminist icon.
Artemis was an important deity in ancient Greece, worshiped at least as early as the first millennium BC, or even earlier. She was the daughter of Zeus, the main god of the Olympians, who ruled the world from the top of Olympus. She was also the twin sister of Apollo, god of the Sun and oracles.
Artemis was a virgin goddess of the desert and the hunt. Their independence and strength have inspired women in a wide range of activities. For example, in a poem titled “Artemis,” author Allison Eir Jenks writes, “I’m no longer your godmother…your chef, your bus stop, your therapist, your junk drawer “, emphasizing women’s freedom and autonomy. .
As the goddess of animals and the desert, Artemis has also inspired environmental conservation programs, in which the goddess is seen as an example of a woman exercising her power by caring for the planet.
However, although the Greek Artemis was strong and brave, she was not always kind and affectionate, even to women. Its eruption was used to explain the sudden death of a woman, especially during childbirth. This aspect of the goddess has faded over time. With the rise of feminism, Artemis has become an icon of female power and self-reliance.
NASA has a long history of naming its missions after mythological figures. Beginning in the 1950s, many rockets and launch systems were named after Greek sky deities, such as Atlas and Saturn, whose Greek name is Cronos.
Atlas and Saturn weren’t just gods, they were titans. In Greek mythology, the Titans represent the indomitable and primordial forces of nature and thus evoke the prodigious immensity of space exploration. Although the Titans were known for their immense strength and power, they were also rebellious and dangerous and were eventually defeated by the Olympians, who represent civilization in Greek mythology.
After the advent of human spaceflight, NASA began naming missions after the sons of Zeus who are associated with the sky. The Mercury program, active from 1958 to 1963, was named after the Roman counterpart of Hermes, the messenger god who flies between Olympus, Earth and the underworld in his winged sandals.
Beginning in 1963, the three-year Gemini program included a capsule designed for two astronauts and named after the twin sons of Zeus, Castor and Pollux, known as the Dioscuri in Greek , which were launched into the stars as the constellation Gemini. They were regularly depicted with a star above their head in Greek and Roman art.
The space shuttle program, which ran from 1981 to 2011, strayed from mythological monikers, and the names Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor were meant to evoke a spirit of innovation.
With Artemis, NASA is nodding back to the Apollo program, which ran from 1963 to 1972 and put the first men on the moon in 1969. More than 50 years later, Artemis will pick up where its twin brother left off, marking the beginning of a more diverse process. era of human space flight.
Marie-Claire Beaulieu is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at Tufts University. His main research areas are Greek mythology and digital humanities. He teaches a regular sequence of mythology and religion classes, including Classical Mythology, Women in Greek Mythology, The Hero’s Journey, and Greek Religion.
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