Published on: 2026-05-02
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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The “Artemis-2” mission with Christina Koch on board sent a signal to millions of girls around the world: space is open to women. Dr. Alinda Mashiku, head of the program for analyzing collision risks in orbit at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), said this in an interview with Arnold Kayanda from the UN News Service.
“For the younger generation, this is proof that dreams can become reality. If a person is capable of inventing how to leave Earth and come back, then nothing is impossible,” she said.
In the world, where women are still underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, such stories break stereotypes and open new horizons. Mashiku knows about the existing barriers from her own experience: as a woman of African descent in the aerospace industry, she has often had to prove her competence.
The path against doubts
The story of Masha herself is destroyed by stereotypes. She grew up in Tanzania and was not a “child prodigy” in mathematics. But she had something that often turns out to be even more important – support.
His father, a teacher at a technical institute, worked with children daily: he checked their assignments and gave them dozens of problems to solve during the holidays. “He believed in us in such a way, as if he saw something that we ourselves couldn’t see at the time,” he recalls.
The dream of becoming an astronaut appeared in her still in childhood. At that time, it seemed almost impossible — there was neither infrastructure nor examples to follow nearby. But her parents did not limit her ambitions. “Don’t give up on your dream just because it seems unattainable,” they tell Mashka.
She did not become an astronaut, but earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering and today works at NASA.
Her work remains behind the scenes, but it is precisely on such specialists that the safe return of astronauts depends. Mashiku is a navigation specialist: her team monitors that orbital apparatus do not pose a threat to manned missions. On the scale of the “Artemis-2” project, this is only a “small contribution,” but in the complex system of space flights, there are no small things.
“Find your rocket fuel”
When talking about obstacles in a career, Mashik often resorts to an image understandable to everyone — gravity. “Gravity acts on everything. But people still fly,” he says. The rocket, according to him, is a “controlled explosion” created to overcome one of the most powerful limitations of nature.
And this is exactly the main lesson for young people: “Whatever obstacle stood before you – find your own ‘rocket fuel’ to overcome it.”
Creating opportunities for friendsÑ
Masha’s desire to help others is confirmed not only by words. The ExcelliSpace project she created provides students with free educational materials, practical tools, and access to mentoring, helping them navigate inÂCareers in science and engineering. Special attention is given to young people.
Against the backdrop of a new stage in the exploration of the Moon, Mashiku hopes that the main legacy of such missions will become not only technological achievements, but also the hope they give to people. For her, this is a story about the courage to dream, about unity, and about the boundless possibilities of the human mind.
Mashiku hopes that new achievements will serve as a reminder for girls, especially girls from Africa, that they can find themselves in exact sciences, can work in flight control centers and, possibly, one day fly into space.
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