Trident Author Series: Valerie Neal - On a Mission: The Smithsonian History

This fall, Smithsonian Books published On a Mission: The Smithsonian History of US Women Astronauts, a can’t-miss book for space lovers that celebrates three generations of US women astronauts, including the challenges they’ve faced and the significant contributions they’ve made.

Boulder resident Valerie Neal, curator emerita from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and expert on human spaceflight, interviewed many of the US women astronauts to bring their experiences to life. Profiles of all NASA’s spacefaring women highlight their individual and collective achievements across almost 50 years.

Sally Ride became a household name as the first American woman in space, but scores of equally impressive women have also left their mark in space. On a Mission: The Smithsonian History of US Women Astronauts spans 45 years and 61 astronauts to share the epic journeys of women who made space for themselves in a male-dominated field.
Valerie Neal, emerita curator in the Department of Space History at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, offers a culturally insightful history of the experiences of women astronauts, the challenges they've faced, and their distinctive stories. Collectively, they've completed more than 100 space shuttle missions and more than 30 long-duration stays on the International Space Station and Russian Space Station Mir, and they continue to prove themselves in present-day space exploration efforts.
The book includes 50 black-and-white photographs to complement the historical account. With its sweeping look from the first women astronauts to Christina Hammock Koch, assigned to the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon, there is no comparably thorough book on America's women astronauts. On a Mission is an inspiring tribute to unsung women's history.

VALERIE NEAL is a curator emerita in the Department of Space History at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, where she oversaw the human spaceflight collections from the space shuttle and International Space Station programs, and she initiated the collection of artifacts from women astronauts. Her previous books include Discovery: Champion of the Space Shuttle Fleet and Spaceflight in the Shuttle Era and Beyond.

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