29-year-old physician assistant and cancer patient Hayley Arceneaux is the newest member of SpaceX’s fully civilian crew. Her age makes her the youngest American woman to ever go into space – and that’s alone a of the things that make her a badass.
Arceneaux pushes many boundaries. Women have entered space before, but in smaller numbers than their male counterparts. Before Arceneaux, SpaceX had sent only one other woman to the moon. And she completely breaks the boundaries that normally keep someone like her from going into space. Arceneaux was diagnosed with bone cancer when she was 10 years old. From The 19th
According to NASA’s current medical guidelines, Arceneaux would not have been able to participate in the mission: she has an artificial joint in her leg and a titanium rod in her left thigh as a result of her treatment. She spent a year with intsubsequent chemotherapy and surgery to remove a lump that had formed on her left knee. She had to learn to walk again.
Astronauts undergo rigorous physical testing to qualify for the flight, and a prosthesis would have disqualified her from a mission had it not been for the commercial nature of the flight. Wedmen were initially excluded from space flights because of assumptions about physical fitness and gender-related expectations.
She can make the trip because the flight is led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who bought the flight from SpaceX and decided to set aside two seats for people who have been treated or worked in St. Jude. Arceneaux, a former patient, did not work as a resident physician at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital until she received the call to join the crew.
Her answer was a resounding “yes!” followed by a request she asked her mother, who had been through a lot to keep her daughter healthy. But it was the kind of opportunity you’d be a fool to pass up.
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“Women belong in space … I will not be the last,” said Arceneaux. “And I am incredibly excited to represent women, and then represent those who are not physically perfect.”