Atmosphere: A Love Story

The novel explores the systemic discrimination women face in society and at NASA due to their gender and, for Joan and Vanessa, their sexuality, as well as the various methods and strategies they must use to navigate this discrimination successfully. This systemic discrimination significantly impacts Joan’s life. In her work life, Joan encounters casual gender discrimination and stereotypes while teaching in the Physics and Astronomy department at Rice University, where her male colleagues dismiss her accomplishments and ambitions. They have such little respect for Joan, or any woman scientist, that they can’t comprehend how NASA hired her. Indeed, the men in her department don’t even seem to notice her presence because she isn’t beautiful and glamorous like her sister, thus implying that men value women only for their physical appearance.

Joan’s encounters with discrimination and sexist attitudes don’t end there, however. Despite NASA’s official position to allow women to become astronauts, the system still excludes them in certain significant roles. Vanessa confronts the convenient administrative guidelines that tacitly bar women from becoming NASA pilots. In addition to gender discrimination at the systemic level, Joan and all the women candidates must contend with gender stereotypes and sexist attitudes perpetuated by their male colleagues, best represented by the pilot candidate