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i was excited about the spacex launch and did a bit of reading a few hours ago: did you guys know that menstruation was part of the argument against women becoming astronauts?
one of the biggest health concerns was the idea of âreverse blood flowâ (i.e menstruating blood would flow back up the Fallopian tubes) + we later discovered that weightlessness in space doesnât affect the menstruation cycle
most female astronauts choose to be on the pill (although it is possible for a woman to have her period during a space mission- we just need to plan for it) but there is currently research being done about what to do in long-term missions (e.g to mars)
fun fact: when the first american woman went to space, she revealed that her male engineering peers asked her whether 100 tampons was enough for her six day mission 
a not-so fun fact: just a few decades ago, people would blame plane crashes on menstruating women (suggesting female pilots were impaired by their periods)
thereâs actual conclusions that have been published (from the women in space program, with NO evidence) that says the following: âputting a temperamental psychophysiologic humanâ together with a âcomplicated machineâ is a bad idea #yikes
whatâs worse is thereâs an official NASA report (from 1971) that suggest that âwomen might be pursuaded to donate her time and energies for the sake of improving crew moraleâ when talking about âdirect sexual release on a long-duration space missionâ
after reading all of that, iâm super thankful for the women astronauts currently in the space industry who are revolutionizing and deconstructing patriarchal standards today
