The International Picture House will hold a screening of Madame Mars: Women and the Quest for Worlds Beyond, a film by 2024 Distinguished Alumna in Art Jan Millsapps. The 7:30 pm screening will be preceded by an informal meet and greet at 6:30 pm, with a discussion following the screening.
Human exploration of Mars is becoming an increasingly reachable goal. Have gender barriers broken by women in the first space age enabled women to pursue opportunities in upcoming Mars missions, or will lingering sexist ideas and discriminatory practices deny women full participation in current and future space age exploration efforts?
What is the face of future space exploration? A woman taking the first step on Mars, while women working in mission control cheer her on? Women in labs, at computers, in boardrooms, whose research and decisions will guide us toward a more inclusive space future? Girls in classrooms – and outside of them – who are confident, ambitious and ready for futures as space explorers, planetary scientists, engineers, computer programmers and more?
Madame Mars: Women and the Quest for Worlds Beyond reframes the story of space exploration as a feminist issue, connecting the original space age that denied opportunities to women, to current Mars initiatives that still lack a full commitment to diversity, and argues for a more inclusive spacefaring future.
As our next space age begins, the need is clear to create new models for space exploration and to expand the roles, not only for those who travel in space and eventually settle on other worlds, but also for the ground-based scientists and technicians so vital to the success of any off-Earth mission.