Jun. 17—Fewer than 100 women have flown to space, out of the around 700 astronauts that have made the trip. That’s about 13% of space travelers.

Female pioneers are attempting to change that statistic.

When Kelli Gerardi was looking down on Planet Earth in 2023, it hit her that she wasn’t on the same planet as her 6-year-old daughter.

Gerardi was one of the most recent women to fly to space, becoming the 90th woman to make the journey. The spaceflight company Virgin Galactic reports that 93 women have been to space.

“It was an intensely emotional experience, and just a profound and transformative one, too,” Gerardi said.

Gerardi, who flew with Virgin Galactic in 2023, said she’s watched the needle move in her own household in terms of how space travel has become more accessible. Her mom grew up before humans had even been to space, Gerardi said.

“When she was growing up, women were ineligible to fly,” she said. “And one generation later, she’s watching her daughter fly to space, and she’s watching her granddaughter take it for granted.”

Gerardi, from Jupiter, Florida, named her daughter Delta V, after spacecraft flight dynamics.

Jamila Gilbert from Las Cruces was the 83rd woman to go to space by Virgin Galactic’s count. Gilbert, the internal communications lead for Virgin Galactic, flew in May 2023 as part of the company’s final flight before launching commercial service.

She had New Mexico turquoise in her pockets in space.

“It is the single greatest experience I think a human can have,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert actually doesn’t have a background in an astronautical field. She said she studied languages and linguistics as well as art, and Virgin Galactic sent her up to preview what its customer experience would be like.

“I never thought space would be an option for me,” she said.

A few months after her flight, Virgin Galactic held its first spaceflight full of private astronauts. The mission marked the most women flown in a single space mission, according to the company.

That flight also held the youngest person — 18-year-old Anastasia Mayers — and third-oldest person to go to space — Jon Goodwin. Goodwin has Parkinson’s Disease, something Gilbert pointed out would normally exclude you from space travel.

“Where before having poor vision would have kind of knocked you out of the running, it’s expanded,” she said.

The experience

Gilbert remembers every step leading up to the flight and the journey into space, she said.

“It’s a flight that I think about every single day of my life,” she said. “And the vibrance of it is something that was palpable.”

Working in communications for a company that deals with space travel, Gilbert’s seen all the photos and videos from previous flights. But it was nothing like seeing it for herself, she said. One of the first things she did when she got back home was paint what she saw.

“It was exceptional,” she said.

Gerardi flew on the Galactic 05 research mission in November 2023, representing the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences. She carried three experiments, or payloads, on the mission.

She described the jump from doing research for maybe 20 seconds in microgravity to spending minutes in space as game-changing.

“It was unbelievable,” she said.

Gerardi said she’s a big proponent of commercial space flight because it enables more access to space travel. Astronauts flying with Virgin Galactic get three days of training before taking the leap.

“The limit to human spaceflight has always been access and not aptitude,” Gerardi said.

Gerardi said she cries at every space launch. It’s an intensely human journey, she said.

“There’s something so profound about watching a human being leave this planet and return,” she said.