In all, 55 women have made the journey to space, out of a total of 520 people who have reached orbit.

In April 2010, four women — three NASA astronauts and one Japanese astronaut — met on the International Space Station and became the most female space flyers in orbit at the same time.

The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, flew on the space shuttle Challenger in June 1983.

Women began flying in space only two years after the first human spaceflight in history. The first female to fly was cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who piloted the Soviet Union's Vostok 6 mission in June 1963, becoming the first woman in space.

NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver is the second women to fill that position. The deputy administrator post is the highest rank held by a woman yet.

NASA marked women's history month with a new website (women.nasa.gov) devoted to the contributions of women at the space agency.

The JPL campus is actually located in the city of La Cañada Flintridge, California, but it maintains a Pasadena address.

NASA has sent JPL developed probes to explore every planet in the Solar System, including Earth!

JPL is responsible for operating NASA's Deep Space Network, an international network of large antennas and communication facilities that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe.

There is a tradition at JPL to eat "good luck peanuts" before critical mission events, such as orbital insertions or landings.

JPL has an open house once a year on a Saturday and Sunday in May, when the public is invited to tour the facilities and see live demonstrations of JPL science and technology.

During missions to the Moon or Mars, the crew will need medical capabilities to diagnose and treat disease as well as for maintaining their health. The Exploration Medical Capability Element develops medical technologies, medical informatics, and clinical capabilities for different levels of care during space missions.

The focus of the Human Health Countermeasures Element is to develop and validate an integrated suite of countermeasures for exploration missions. Countermeasures maintain human health so that crews can perform all required duties during the phases of a mission, including transitions to altered gravitational conditions.

NASA uses the term countermeasures to describe the procedures, strategies, medications, exercise, etc. that help to keep our astronauts healthy and productive while they are traveling in space and after they return to Earth.

The International Space Station Medical Project operates the two International Standard Payload Racks onboard the Station which are collectively called the Human Research Facility. The racks provide a source of utilities, such as electrical power, data handling, cooling air and water, pressurized gases, and a vacuum supply, to support science instruments.

The International Space Station Medical Project provides access to space for Human Research Program activities. They maximize the use of the space station to solve human health and performance problems and the risks of associated with exploration missions.

The James Webb Space Telescope was named after former NASA Administrator James Webb.

Both the mirror and sunshade of the JWST won't fit onto the rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open once Webb is in outer space. Webb will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth.

Webb will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court.

Webb will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. Webb's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.

Webb will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy.

The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2014.

Located at Edwards, California, in the western Mojave Desert, Dryden is uniquely situated to take advantage of the excellent year-round flying weather, remote area, and visibility to test some of the nation's most exciting air vehicles.

For 60 years, Projects at Dryden have led to major advancements in the design and capabilities of many state-of-the-art civilian and military aircraft. The newest, the fastest, the highest - all have made their debut in the vast, clear desert skies over Dryden.