Gender and the Race for Space
Masculinity and the American Astronaut, 1957-1983
The American astronaut image was informed by early Cold War ideals of masculinity that helped mold a distinctly American (anti-communist) masculinity, which appeared — on the surface anyway — to resolve not only an American 'crisis of masculinity' but helped win the Cold War on an ideological and popular level.
This American image focused on strict gender binaries of man as the protector, controlling technology and containing communism, while woman was the passive actor with spaceflight technology — left behind in the home waiting for the return of the astronaut husband. Allowing women to fly into space would have represented a lack of individual control with spaceflight technology.
Erinn McComb, PhD, is Associate Professor of History at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. She researches the intersection of gender with foreign policy, science, and technology.
