In NASA’s New Interactive Graphic Novel, a Latina is the “First Woman” on the Moon!

In First Woman, Hispanic engineer Callie Rodriguez goes where no woman has gone before . . . to the Moon!

In 2024, NASA plans to send the first women to the Moon as part of its Artemis program. A team of 18 astronauts will participate in Artemis, 9 of whom will be female. To build excitement for Artemis and encourage a more diverse generation of astronauts, NASA has created a new interactive graphic novel called First Woman. The main character of First Woman is Callie Rodriguez, a Hispanic engineer who becomes the first woman to step on the lunar surface along with a robot she builds using artificial intelligence.

Image Credit: NASA

Issue #1 of the graphic novel is now available in English and Spanish on the NASA website. Entitled “Dream to Reality,” this first installment of the series “follows Callie’s trailblazing path as the first woman on the Moon. Callie and her robot sidekick, RT, overcome setbacks, disappointment, and tragedy along the way. From her childhood dreams of space travel to being selected as an astronaut candidate, Callie takes us on her journey to the Moon.”

Image Credit: NASA

WOW! Don’t Miss the XR Interactive Technology Experience

As part of First Woman, NASA is also giving the rest of us to the chance to explore the Artemis program technology through some pretty incredible interactive experiences. First Woman is “XR
enabled”, which means that it offers viewers the chance to experience NASA technology and Callie’s story in both AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality). By downloading an app on your phone from the First Woman webpage, NASA says you can “walk through life-size scenes from the graphic novel and explore NASA’s highlighted technologies, which helped Callie, and will help real astronauts, sustain life on the Moon.”

The graphic novel itself also contains QR codes that you can scan to “meet” RT and get even more interesting content.

Image Credit: Created using an image from NASA

Back to Earth

In real life, NASA has not said which one of the women in the Artemis program will be chosen to be the first to walk on the Moon, but the space agency seems to be hinting that she will be a person of color: “While Callie is a fictional character, the first female astronaut and person of color will soon set foot on the Moon – a historic milestone and part of upcoming NASA missions.”

When the first woman walks on the Moon, you can bet Lateenz will be watching, and we hope you will be, too!

Hey – before you go – did you know that NASA offers internships for high school students?  Check out our Teen Resources to see these and other internships, programs, and competitions for high school students interested in aeronautics and other STEM subjects.