Updated October 4th, 2021 at 17:30 IST
World Space Week: ESA astronaut's Barbie doll replica sent on zero-gravity flight
Samantha Cristoforetti's doll will promote women’s representation in space and will encourage a higher influx of young girls in STEM careers, said ESA.
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Kickstarting the World Space Week, on October 4, the European Space Agency (ESA) has sent a Barbie doll inspired by Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, on a zero-gravity flight. As per the agency, this idea will promote women’s representation in space and will encourage a higher influx of young girls in science, technology, maths and engineering (STEM) careers.
ESA and @Mattel have released an @AstroSamantha @Barbie doll to coincide with #WorldSpaceWeek2021 and its theme of #WomenInSpace, together with @WIA_Europe to encourage girls to become the next generation of astronauts, engineers and space scientists 👉 https://t.co/x9Yu07bR39 pic.twitter.com/rdGrImUZU3
— ESA (@esa)
Theme of World Space Week
The World Space Week, which starts on October 4 and goes on till October 10, has commenced with a theme 'Women in Space’. The week's theme hopes to inspire young girls to make a career in space science and engineering. The Barbie doll, based on Cristoforetti, is a result of ESA’s collaboration with toymaker Mattel Inc., said the agency.
ESA's official release stated, “The ESA/Barbie partnership goes back to 2019, when ESA’s Communications Partnerships Unit arranged for two unique Samantha Cristoforetti figures to be used by Barbie Mattel Italia to promote their longer-term ‘Dream Gap Project."
We are over the moon to announce a brand-new €5000 bursary in collaboration with @esa and @Mattel!
— Women In Aerospace - Europe (@WIA_Europe)
This bursary, launched as part of #WorldSpaceWeek, will support a outreach project to inspire girls into STEM.
Apply now 👇https://t.co/Sqb7elKpOT pic.twitter.com/uAAsTo62IU
Aim of the project
As per the ESA, this project focuses on research on the cultural stereotypes and media representations that have shown over the years that young girls doubt their ability to carry out certain tasks after a certain age. “The research also shows that women are still under-represented in STEM careers and even at a young age, girls say that they are least confident in their maths skills in school. This means that they are missing out on potentially fulfilling and highly paid careers in the industry,” it added.
Furthermore, the agency revealed that this fresh collaboration is for the creation of an educational bursary to promote diversity and excellence in the European aerospace sector. The institution will be founded with the help of Women in Aerospace Europe, a Netherlands-based non-profit international organisation, as per ESA.
We begin #WorldSpaceWeek with @ESA astronaut @AstroSamantha!👩🚀 After 200 days in space in 2014–2015, she is set to return to the stars in 2022, and will give a keynote speech at #T20Solutions tomorrow!
— Space for Earth (@spaceforearth)
More info 👉 https://t.co/rfucOMQOa3#WSW21 #WomenInSpaceWSW #WomenInSpace pic.twitter.com/N2LE6PTc4o
The zero-gravity flight
The Barbie doll, based on Cristoforetti, experienced the zero-gravity flight at the ESA base in Germany. Ever since the doll was made public, the demand for it has spread across all of Europe. The ESA said that proceeds from the sales of the Barbie used in the flight will be donated to the Women in Aerospace Europe organisation. Meanwhile, the real-life Cristoforetti is currently preparing for her next flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2022.
(Image: Twitter/@ESA)
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Published October 4th, 2021 at 17:30 IST