The International Space Station welcomed its first female cosmonaut yesterday. Russian Yelena Serova arrived along with two colleagues after a six-hour trip aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft. After blasting off from Kazakistan, Serova became just the fourth Russian woman in space.
Serova was joined by two space station veterans, NASA's Barry Wilmore and the Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev. The crew will spend six months together aboard the space station.
At the press conference proceeding the crew's launch, yesterday, Serova took offense to some reporters' persistent line of questioning in regard to her hair.
"Can I ask a question, too: aren't you interested in the hair styles of my colleagues?" she asked the journalists pointedly. "My flight is my job."
"I'll be the first Russian woman who will fly to the ISS," she continued. "I feel a huge responsibility towards the people who taught and trained us and I want to tell them: we won't let you down!"
Serova also took exception to questions about her parenting skills.
Igor Marinin, editor of Russian magazine Space News, was dismissive of Serova's chops in a recent interview.
"We are doing this flight for Russia's image," he said. "She will manage it, but the next woman won't fly out soon."
James Oberg, American space journalist and expert on the Russian space program, was more supportive. He told NBC News that Serova "is the first Russian woman to fly in space purely on her professional merits -- and they are spectacular."