The Case Of The Missing Astronaut Comic

What does a disappeared NASA comic about fictional woman astronauts reflect on the DEI purge inside the US government

Error 404: Comic Not Found

A comic about a fictional first woman astronaut on the Moon became one of the webpages that have disappeared from NASA’s website, amid a larger purge by the new Trump administration to remove DEI content from government websites.

For long-time readers of the Substack, you might remember I have shared the webcomic released by NASA titled “First Woman: NASA’s Promise to Humanity.” Here is an article by yours truly mentioning the comic in January 2024.

Long story short, the NASA webcomic centers around Callie Rodriguez, an Afro-Latina astronaut who became the first woman astronaut to walk on the Moon. In the comics, Callie tells readers her story about how she became an astronaut and her passion for space, and the plot scenes include astronauts from all walks of life working together to make discoveries and solve problems.

Cover photo for the NASA’s First Woman comic (Photo Credit: NASA)

However, if you click on the website link for the comic (https://www.nasa.gov/calliefirst/), what welcomes you is just plain text that reads “404,” adding “The cosmic object you were looking for has disappeared beyond the event horizon.” Last available to the public on March 14, it seems NASA had taken down the First Woman webpage between then and March 16, the first time the Wayback Machine had shown the 404 error page. Based on a search of links to the NASA website, not only did the comic’s webpage get taken down, but it also affected the 'First Woman' Graphic Novel and Camp Experience which included activities for students. If you click on that link, at the time of writing, it directs you to the STEM Resources page. You can’t find the comics online, as the PDF links for the comics are now gone.

The only remnants that have survived the sudden scrapping include the comic’s app on the App Store, three separate press releases (Each hyperlink to a different press release), and the audio version on SoundCloud (Featured below).

Based on my research, there was no explanation or notification from NASA regarding the comic’s scrapping. However, what could have led to the comic’s scrapping? Nobody can say for sure, this is one of the known unknowns regarding this story, Maybe these excerpts from the comic press releases could provide a clue…

NASA released its first digital, interactive graphic novel on Saturday in celebration of National Comic Book Day. “First Woman: NASA’s Promise for Humanity” imagines the story of Callie Rodriguez, the first woman to explore the Moon.

While Callie’s story is fictional, the first woman and the first person of color will walk on the Moon, achieving these historic milestones as part of NASA’s Artemis missions. Through this graphic novel, NASA aims to inspire the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation.

…

“The story of Callie captures how passion, dedication, and perseverance allow us to turn our dreams into reality,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Callie, much like myself, grew her skills, seized learning opportunities, and overcame challenges to become a NASA astronaut. Her diversity is reflected in our own astronaut corps today – it’s important we can see ourselves as the explorers among the stars.”

“Diversity is at the core of NASA’s missions, and the reason we continue breaking the boundaries of what’s possible. First Woman embodies the rich history of countless women who broke barriers and continue to lead NASA to the stars,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “So much of what NASA does is to inspire future explorers because each member of the Artemis Generation should feel represented in our missions. Callie’s story reminds us that we will do what has never been done before — land the first woman on the Moon, and it will inspire the world.”

…

“Callie is an inspirational character for underrepresented communities and, as a person of Indian descent with young children, I deeply understand the power of a diverse fanbase seeing a place for themselves within our ambitious missions. To solve the many challenges of sustainable lunar exploration, we need innovative ideas from diverse sources and non-traditional communities,” said Dr. Prasun Desai, acting associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We continue that aspirational theme with our second issue, diving further into the crew’s complex mission and personal backgrounds while expanding a wealth of interactive, multilingual science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content across our digital platforms.”

Could the scrapping of the comic be related to its theme of diversity, or even just because the words were mentioned? Maybe. In the Department of Defence’s DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) purge under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the agency banned photos and online posts because they included the word “gay” regardless of content. As a result, the DoD banned a photo of the Enola Gay bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945, as well as a photo of a group of army engineers because one of them had the last name Gay.

The missing NASA comic is one case study of a larger shift inside the US government to ending DEI measures in government agencies, that has affected numerous government agencies. In early February, the CDC website scrapped webpages that discussed gender, sexually transmitted diseases, and LGBT health. Scrapped pages include content from the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a page dedicated to "Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth," and a page for recommended vaccines that were later recovered without mention of the mpox vaccine. Even though a court order ordered the CDC and other health-related agencies to restore the removed web pages, some volunteers have restored the pre-Trump CDC website, as part of a larger effort to save information from government websites.

More recently, the Pentagon removed a webpage honoring Jackie's service during WWII from the "Sports Heroes Who Served" series, redirecting users to a URL reading "DEI SPORTS.” The webpage was later restored after public outcry. The growing backlash also touched on the Najavo Code Talkers (Native American soldiers who transmitted secret Allied messages in the Pacific theater of combat during World War II), the Tuskegee Airmen (A group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II), and Marines at Iwo Jima that raised the American flag in a historic war photo. All of them were subjects of webpages scrapped by the DoD.

Responding to the backlash, a spokesperson said: "Everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Marines at Iwo Jima and so many others — we salute them for their strong and in many cases heroic service to our country, full stop. We do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex. We do so only by recognizing their patriotism and dedication to the warfighting mission like every other American who has worn the uniform."

At the time of writing, there are no reports of DEI or website purges inside NASA. Not to brag here, but it looks like yours truly might be the first person to break this story. Of course, this story shouldn’t stop here. Other journalists should look into this story and investigate NASA’s deletion of potential DEI-related content, and NASA should make a response on why they suddenly scrapped the comic’s content.

If you are interested and want to check out the missing NASA comics and accompanying content that disappeared from the website, the comic's first issue, its second issue, and other content related to the series are available right here.