Space Week discussions highlight women in space exploration

By Sarah Daponde Asst. Arts & Features Editor The Space Consortium and The McAuliffe Center collaborated to host the “Inspiring Women in Space Panel Discussion” on April 24 as a part of Massachusetts Space Week 2025. This year’s Space Week theme was “Life in the Universe.” Alissa J. Haddaji, a founder and director of Space Week, said last year there were approximately 20 events, and this year there were more than 100. This panel was designed to inspire local women and girls to learn more about STEM fields and space careers. The panel featured four women, who discussed their experiences in the space exploration field, including their challenges and achievements. The guest speakers were Haddaji, Irene Porro, Charity Weeden, and Bhavya Lal. The speakers began by sharing their individual stories, growing up as women who were interested in math and science, and how they got interested in space. The women were from four different countries, four different cultures, and brought four different perspectives to space, said Porro. Weeden, who worked as NASA’s associate administrator, Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy discussed her journey first. She said she grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and she remembered reading a newspaper the day after the Challenger crashed. She was 11 years old at the time and said she didn’t watch the news and had not heard anything about the accident until she read about it that day. Weeden said that, even though it was a tragedy and it should have been scary, she felt inspired. “This is something you want to stay away from - I actually got attracted to the bravery and the amazing diversity of the people,” said Weeden. “That one’s a pilot, that one’s a teacher, that one’s an engineer, that one’s in the military,” she added. She said it was like an ignition inside of her. “Now I knew that astronauts exist,” Weeden said, and someday she wanted to be like them. She said only four astronauts were selected from Canada at a time. “There was a third astronaut selection and I was at the right age. I’d done everything right - but I had my child that year and I’m like, ‘I think I want to stay on the ground,’” she said. This made her realize she wanted to represent her country in space, make important decisions, and bring the world together through space - and she could do that from the ground. She said she worked for NASA as the head of policy, making important decisions, which was a big full circle moment for her. Lal, former associate administrator for technology, policy, and strategy at NASA, introduced herself next. She said she grew up in India with a father who worked as an engineer. He would get stationed in small, rural towns, while she and her mother stayed in Delhi. After a while, they started to accompany him and Lal was homeschooled. She said her homeschooling helped her excel in math and science when she began going to public high school. Lal said one of her professors asked her, “Are you sure you’re a girl?” and told her that women are not supposed to be good at math and science. “That just pissed me off to no end,” added Lal. She said her father said she could only go to America for higher education if she got into MIT, so she applied, got accepted, and began in the engineering department. Lal said she also remembered the Challenger accident, which she watched on TV. Though she had a lot of education in space history, she said she did not begin working in space herself until her mid-30s. She read a book called “Earth Abides” by George Stewart, which was about the end of civilization, and her new goal in life became preserving civilization. “For some reason, that book kept me up at night for months and I was just desperate - what can I do to ensure the survival of our civilization?” Lal said. Irene Porro, director of the Christa McAuliffe Center, discussed her journey next. She said listening to Weeden’s and Lal’s stories made her realize how their journeys in the space field had been very different, but there were certain points that connected them all, such as the Challenger crash. In The McAuliffe Center, talking about the Challenger crash was almost a daily occurrence, she added. She said although she often found herself as the only woman in the room in her field, she was never told she couldn’t do something because she wasn’t a man. “And I know - because I hear other people’s experience - that that is a gift, a privilege I had,” added Porro. Porro was born in Italy and had a natural interest in science, she said. This interest brought her to study at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Physics. She said she never had a plan for her career - she took whatever opportunities were offered to her. “In our path, there are doors …we need to open them and look at what is on the other side,” Porro added. Lastly, Haddaji, an adjunct professor of Space Law, Policy, and Ethics at the Space Consortium, shared her story. She said she grew up in a small town in France, which for most of her childhood she didn’t realize was only an hour away from Paris. She said her life changed when she realized, “You can just look up and everything becomes infinite.” Haddaji said she found a space camp, where she could see the stars without any light pollution. She said it made her realize how two people could look up at the sky with two different perspectives. “The way we’re all going to see the world is going to be very different,” she added. She became interested in the people who looked at the sky because they must be the best people, she said. They became her heroes. She said she was also interested in cinema, specifically American cinema. She said this made her think America was the best place to pursue her dreams of working in the space field. This led her to a career as a planetary defense expert. Working in space opened her eyes to so many new things and broke through “a pile of glass ceilings I was absolutely not aware of,” she said. Lal said the most important part of working in space was not the degree or education someone received - it was critical thinking. “Think about what you want to do, then do it,” she added. Porro agreed with her and said it was important to be “competent and confident.” She said confidence was crucial, but it needed to be backed up by knowledge. Find something personally exciting and find out everything about it, she said. Haddaji said, “disciplines are like languages.” Many people get degrees in physics, law, communications, or other things, and put “space” in front of their titles, said Weeden. An example she gave of this was “space lawyer.” “There’s always room for you in space,” added Weeden.