In commemoration of Women's History Month, NASA has released a video titled
"Pioneers to New Frontiers: NASA Women Through the Decades", highlighting several of the groundbreaking women in the agency who have led the way for change in our society and culture, all while contributing to the advancement of the NASA mission.
One of the women featured in the video is Human Systems Integration Division researcher Dr. Patricia Cowings. Throughout her 50+ year career at NASA, Dr. Cowings has continually broken down barriers, helping to inspire future generations of woman scientists. Holding the distinction of being the first American woman scientist to be trained as a payload specialist, she would go on to conduct groundbreaking research into the development of a method to train astronauts to combat motion sickness during spaceflight. This method, known as
"Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE)", would ultimately prove to be more effective than several of the pharmacological remedies in use at the time, helping to earn it a patent in 1997. AFTE would go on to be used by NASA and the US military to evaluate and train astronauts and soldiers to control motion sickness.
Dr. Cowings continues to conduct research at the
NASA Ames Research Center as the lead of the
Psychophysiology Research Laboratory. Her work and her legacy will continue to enable the NASA mission and help pave the way for future woman scientists.
