To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’ve been highlighting some of the different orgs and people making waves for women’s representation.

Last up is Dr. Nicola Fox, the associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate — and only the second woman in the org’s history to be its head of science. While there’s still a gender gap in space science — not to mention aboard space shuttles — Dr. Fox and her colleagues are working tirelessly to change that. Here’s what she had to say about female representation in the field.

Q: Why has there been a gender gap in space research and exploration?

STEM has been historically male-dominated for far too long. Just recently, women have been encouraged more and more from a young age to follow their dreams and pursue careers in STEM. [Also], a male-dominated field can sometimes lead to injustices and a harsh environment in which to be a female or a minority voice. This can result in either dropping out or bypassing careers in space research and exploration altogether.

Q: What is the current state of women’s representation in space research and exploration?

The total percentage of women at NASA is 34 percent ... What is exciting is our number of women in STEM has nearly doubled since 1993 and we have seen a major increase in female leaders in space research and exploration. To give just a snapshot, the last two astronaut classes selected included the highest percentage of women in history with 50 percent for the class of 2013 and 45 percent for the class of 2017 … [Now] Vanessa Wyche is the first African American woman to lead the Johnson Space Center and Kathy Lueders is the first woman to lead human spaceflight at NASA.

Q: NASA’s hoping to land the first woman on the moon as part of the Artemis missions. Why’s that important?

When Artemis I launched in 2022, NASA was launched into a new generation of scientific exploration — one that is more diverse and representative of our country. We call it the Artemis Generation. It is so important to have everyone represented in all aspects of what we do at NASA because diverse perspectives bring new ideas to the table, improve mission capability, and lead us to mission success. 

P.S.Want to see all of our interviews from this year’s Women’s History Month? Click here.