Vagina MuseumSally Ride was the first American woman and first lesbian in space, first flying in 1983. Before she flew, NASA weren't really sure what a woman in space might need, so suggested providing her with 100 tampons. For a six day mission.
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Binks@mo @vagina_museum I mean, they did. They asked her if that supply would be sufficient for any contingency. And everyone dunks on them for the "hur dur, so many for 6 days!" stuff, but NASA plans for worst-case scenarios and sends astronauts up with lots of extra supplies in case they get stranded up there regularly.
trainguyrom@Binks @mo @vagina_museum yeah I really want to know the full context between that exchange that folks love to dunk on. Yes many men have zero clue about anything related to a uterus, but I could absolutely see it as some engineer calculating the mass budget for the question of "do we have sufficient payload budget for any menstrual products this astronaut may need?" And the answer being a half-joking "well is 100 tampons sufficient?"
There's so many ways that often-reported quote could have been entirely reasonable and not entirely based in poor understanding of women's anatomy. There's also the distinct possibity that it was in fact an incredible level of misunderstanding uterus-havers