Women astronauts are better prepared to lead long-term space missions, such as a trip to Mars, according to a new study published in the journal Acta Astronautica.
Women showed more mutual support , motivation, and generating a positive environment, while male leaders preferred team spirit, loyalty, and achievement.
Both genders remained highly task-oriented.
The researchers studied 824 reports from commanders of the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, which replicates part of the spaceflight experience.
In the period of time studied from 2009 to 2016 there were 27 female commanders who presented 277 reports and 49 male commanders who wrote 550.
Study author Professor Inga Popovaitė, a sociologist at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) in Lithuania, said her findings suggest that women may be better suited for long-term space missions.
She said: “In -20 years, when the missions to Mars begin, it will be mixed groups that will be sent there.”
“In addition, a female astronaut is preparing for a flight to the Moon in a few years”, he added.
“However, there is still a lack of data on women in space because their low participation in both polar expeditions and space analogues. The dynamics of the mixed groups are compared with that of the male groups”, he mentioned.
From 2021, only three women have served as commanders on the International Space Station during two decades of its operations.
Although the space is increasingly diverse, little is known about gender differences in leadership in isolated, confined, and extreme settings.
Women’s reports had significantly higher positive sentiment scores and significantly lower negative sentiment scores.
Second, although both male and female commanders demonstrated task-oriented leadership behavior, female commanders spoke more frequently about their crew members.
Meet Katya Echazarreta, the first Mexican to travel to space https://t.co/VrupHRQdkQ— El Diario Nueva York (@eldiariony) May 10, 2022
Furthermore, in such discussions, the male commanders focused on the spirit team building, loyalty, and achievement, and women emphasized mutual support, motivation, and a positive environment.
Thirdly, the findings revealed that female commanders tend to use less specific words when talking about their daily activities.
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