It’s Women’s History Month in the United States, so in that spirit, I’m sharing a blog post I wrote about the only two women to have been honored by the US Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame. I originally wrote this post for a client, but that blog was shut down before I could submit the post to him, so I’m sharing it here instead with a few edits. I hope you find it interesting!
Spotlight on Women in the US Air Force Space and Missile Hall of Fame
Women are widely known to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. For example, a 2019 report from the National Center for Education Statistics showed that, based on the most recent data available at that time, 64% of bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields were awarded to males as compared to 36% to females. Similarly, a 2018 report by the National Science Foundation (NSF) showed a growing gender gap in associate’s degrees in science and engineering, with women earning 48% of those degrees in 2000 but only 44% in 2015. for women. The report also showed that in 2015, women earned fewer than half of all bachelor’s degrees in engineering, computer sciences, physics, mathematics, and statistics.
In order to understand more about women’s underrepresentation in STEM, research centers around the world are undertaking studies to learn more this phenomenon. These include The Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy at Aarhus University; the Center for the Study of Inequality at Cornell University; the Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment at Stanford University; and the Center for Research on Gender in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine at the University of California San Diego.
Despite the gender-based inequality that is behind the need for these research centers, many outstanding women have succeeded in STEM careers. These women can serve as role models for others following in their footsteps. Two of these women who can be role models are the only female members of the US Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame. Read on to learn more.
About the US Air Force Space Command and the US Space Force
According to official US Air Force history, the US Air Force Space Command was established in 1982. Originally, the Command’s focus was on missile warnings, launch operations, satellite control, and space surveillance. As time passed, its mission expanded to include control of intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as communications, positioning, navigation and timing, meteorology, and cyberspace operations. The Command grew to employ more than 26,000 people focused on gaining and maintaining space control, coordinating satellite communications, overseeing launches and range safety, and ensuring smooth operation of space surveillance radar. In December 2019, it was announced by the US Secretary of the Air Force that the US Air Force Space Command had become the US Space Force.
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The US Space Force logo and motto. (US Space Force/Staff Sgt. James Richardson) |
The US Air Force notes the Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame grew out of an award program started in 1989. The first awards were given to 10 leaders who contributed to the founding of the space program in the United States. They established both space and operational systems that formed the basis of US space exploration efforts since.
Then, in 1997, the Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame was established, and the Air Force notes that at that time, two more space innovators were recognized. Since then, 47 more members have been added for a total of 59. Of those members, only two are women. Their profiles follow.
Rita C. Sagalyn
According to her Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame biography, Rita C. Sagalyn earned a BS from the University of Michigan and an MA from Harvard University. During her studies, she focused on radar communications. Later, she focused her research on the electrical properties of the lower atmosphere, information that would go on to protect aircraft from electrical storms. Later, she shifted her attention to the electrical properties of the upper atmosphere by using rockets, and later still she studied satellites.
Her Air Force biography notes her innovative findings helped control spacecraft altitude, pitch, and yaw during Gemini missions in the 1960s. Later, she worked on instruments for such programs as the Orbiting Geophysical Observatory and the International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies. She is best known for her discoveries involving the electromagnetic forces that control energy particles in space. She is also known for establishing interagency and international agreements. Before retiring, she rose to the positions of director of the Space Physics Division of the Geophysics Directorate at Hanscom Air Force Base and senior scientist in the Space Vehicles Directorate, also at Hanscom Air Force Base, and she was added to the Hall of Fame in 2004.
Dr. Gladys B. West
Dr. Gladys B. West, as noted in her Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame biography, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. She earned both her BS and MS in mathematics from Virginia State College, now University. She began her professional career as a teacher before working as a mathematician for the US Naval Weapons Laboratory, which later became the Naval Surface Warfare Center.
As outlined in her Hall of Fame biography, her government career led her to work on the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator, and her findings contributed to calculating the movements of Pluto in relation to Neptune, work for which she earned an Award of Merit in 1964. Later, she focused on calculating the orbits of satellites. This work laid the foundation for current Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
Not satisfied with these achievements, according to her biography, West pursued an MA in public administration in 1973 from the University of Oklahoma. After this, she held several leadership positions, including project manager of the Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite and SEASAT, which established that satellites could be used to sense and measure the oceans. This laid the foundation for the use of the Geodetic Satellite (GEOSAT) to create computer simulations of the entire earth’s surface.
After her retirement, her biography explains she earned a PhD in public administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2000. Since then, she has focused on mentoring youth on the importance of studying STEM disciplines. In addition to her US Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame induction, she was recognized for her achievements by the Virginia State Assembly in 2018.