Does Mars need women? Russians say no

Final frontier for sexual harassment
The Institute of Medical and Biological Problems has had difficulties working with non-Russian women in the past, which perhaps explains why none will be invited into the new test program. The most notorious case occurred in 1999-2000, during a 110-day isolation chamber test run with an international crew that included 32-year-old Judith Lapierre, a Ph.D. health sciences specialist sponsored by the Canadian Space Agency.

A handful of Russians and international partners had been isolated in a small spaceship simulator, where their interactions were observed by psychologists on television. Lapierre had been one of the three international test subjects who entered the mock spaceship in Moscow  Dec. 3, 1999. The three foreigners and one Russian joined four Russians who had been inside the three-room complex since early summer.

Less than a month into her run, Lapierre suddenly encountered serious problems. She was twice forcibly French-kissed by the Russian team commander, and soon afterwards witnessed a 10-minute-long fight between two Russians that left blood spattered on the walls.

She insisted that the controversial kisses were not merely “friendly celebrations” and that she had vigorously told the Russian to back off. She quoted him as saying, "We should try kissing, I haven't been smoking for six months. Then we can kiss after the mission and compare it. Let's do the experiment now."

Lapierre dismissed the notion that the Russian thought his actions were normal and acceptable. "Why did he try to pull me out of sight of the camera?" she asked.

Lapierre took photographs of the blood-spattered wall with her digital camera and e-mailed them home to Canada, and together with her male associates from Japan and Austria appealed to their sponsoring agencies to discipline the offenders. But they were told that such behavior was the norm for Russians and that they should either tolerate it or leave the project. They were also told that Russian cultural patterns prohibited Lapierre from making a public complaint.

The Japanese participant was so upset by the lack of prompt and energetic support from outside that he quit — but after being given locks for their rooms, Lapierre stayed. In the end, she decided the whole experiment had been a waste of time: "This was a chaotic field study, not a scientific experiment," Lapierre recalled. "They were not ready to host an international study."

Canadian Space Agency file Judith Lapierre, a Canadian health sciences specialist, ran into trouble during a 110-day isolation test in a Russian spaceship simulator.

When Lapierre's team first entered the modules, Dr. Valery Gushin, the scientific coordinator of the project, voiced attitude that in hindsight could have been seen as warnings about the problem. "Men, they have some expectations from women," he told a Canadian television team. "They want them to be more like women, not just partners. At least Russians do." 

Following the incident, Gushin blamed Lapierre. His official report, which Lapierre has seen, saud she had "ruined the mission, the atmosphere, by refusing to be kissed." She should have been taken out, he wrote, and he also insisted that the foreigners had caused the fight.

After returning to Canada, Lapierre spent five years in court with the Canadian Space Agency. Even though the agency sponsored her participation with a research grant, Canadian officials insisted that since she wasn’t a full-time employee she should have had no expectation they would stand up for her against the Russian officials. She finally won her lawsuit last year, but she now believes she has lost any chance of becoming a Canadian astronaut.

With their cultural perceptions so vividly reinforced by such "un-Russian" behavior on the part of a non-Russian woman, Russian space doctors seem determined not to take any chances in the future. But it’s not because women are too weak or delicate, as Grigoryev recently claimed. As Lapierre showed them, just the opposite seems to be true.

NBC News space analyst James Oberg had a 22-year career as a space engineer in Houston, where he specialized in NASA space shuttle operations for orbital rendezvous. He has written numerous books about the U.S. and Russian space efforts, including "Star-Crossed Orbits: Inside the U.S./Russian Space Alliance."

MORE FROM SPACE

Space Section Front

Play the galactic slots Cosmic Log: Suborbital science goes public Saturn moon’s geysers get their close-up Plan for human mission to asteroid gains speed Astronauts wrap up tasks in delayed spacewalk Magnetic assist helps big stars form Russian cosmonaut Feoktistov dies at 83 Stuck Mars rover makes first move in months Engineer wins top prize in space glove contest   Month in space: What a blast! Space Section Front   Add Space headlines to your news reader: