Just showing a woman, in Houston’s [Texas, United States] control centre, was a very great inspiration for me,” - Rosaly Lopes

I grew up with the Apollo programme and it was that which inspired me a lot. I wanted to be an astronaut, at first, but I saw that I was a woman, Brazilian, and very short-sighted. So, really, it was not going to happen. I decided that I was going to help the space programme as a scientist. I decided this very early and never strayed from this path.

I am optimistic, I think that we will discover ways of using energy that do not cause global warming. The problem is that the question has become more political than scientific.

Inclusion is important because science needs talent, it needs dedicated people, and it does not matter it they are men or women, of different ethnicities, or anything. It is important to have youths aimed at a career in sciences and technology because it is our future.