FORTUNE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 109it was bestowed with a much more
memorable name: “Dipippo.”
“After 35 years in the business,
someone decided that I deserved this,”
says Simonetta Di Pippo, director of
the United Nations Office for Outer
Space Affairs and namesake of the as-
teroid formerly known as No. 21887.
An astrophysicist by training, and
the ex-director of human space flight
at the European Space Agency, the
Italian-born Di Pippo has devoted her
life to the exploration—and democra-
tization—of space. She has also com-
mitted herself to growing the network
of women in her field, cofounding an
organization for European women in
aerospace in 2009.
Di Pippo’s current role at the UN
is to advance international collabo-
ration when it comes to all things
space. That means bringing countries
together to promote peaceful uses of
outer space, coordinating between
different parts of the world and the
public and private sectors throughout
the globe. It also means focusing on
diversity, or making sure that the peo-
ple driving our decisions in this next
frontier are representative of us all.
The latter is more important than
ever. We’ve all seen what happens
on Earth when some voices are
heard and others are silenced. And
innovation and access to space are
growing quickly: Di Pippo says that
this year alone, 2,000 satellites have
already been launched into orbit.
Just two years ago, that number was
600 annually. “Space for all is a big
priority,” says Di Pippo. “Our Earth is
suffering a lot, and the more we havepeople understanding this and how
important space is [to our future],
the more we will have politicians
understanding this, too.”
Di Pippo’s work on this front is
certainly, in practical terms, a bigger
deal than getting her own asteroid.
But names matter as well. Last
March, NASA announced that it had
named 27 asteroids after “pioneer-
ing” astronauts—Black, Hispanic,
and Native American explorers,
some of them female. That includes
asteroid No. 103738, now known as
“Stephaniewilson.” It’s named after
Stephanie D. Wilson, an aerospace
engineer who has traveled to the
space station three times and logged
more than 42 days in space. Some-
day soon Wilson may break even
more ground: She is on NASA’s
Artemis team and could, perhaps,
become that first woman to set foot
on the Moon.IN EARLY OCTOBER, the
UN celebrates World
Space Week. The global
event consists of speeches,
competitions, lectures, and camps for
kids, all aimed at increasing inter-
est in space. Each year, a theme is
picked. In 2020, it was “Satellites
Improve Life.” This year, for the first
time, it’s “Women in Space.”
Johnson, not surprisingly, is a
member of the advisory board. But
as excited as she about this year’s
theme, she confesses that, personally,
she has no desire to leave Earth. I’m
shocked—of the dozens of women I
spoke to for this story, she’s the only
one who doesn’t aspire to experience
space for herself. Why? “I’m happy
here,” she says, laughing. “I don’t have
the stomach for it.”
Even if Johnson herself doesn’t
dream of launching herself into orbit,
or landing on the surface of the Moon,
there are—and perhaps more impor-
tant, there will be—many who do.
Looking for them? She can probably
introduce you.French entrepreneur Barbara Belvisi is developing “biopods” for crop cultivation.PHOTOGRAPH BY LAURA STEVENS