Flipping Texas ? You ' d have better luck flipping California . <| sep |> Space coast to coast ? <| sep |> Oh yeah no doubt if you guys had an above average line youd be a top 10 team <| sep |> It ' s a bit of a strain to make such a strong distinction between the first person to risk his life setting foot on the moon . Then skip a bunch of people and hand out a medal to Sally Ride for being the first woman to get a ride in a space shuttle . Even more interesting is handing them out to Katherine Johnson and Margaret Hamilton , while hundreds of other male scientists who worked on many other components of the propulsion systems , structural engineering , life support systems , etc . , never got a similar prize . Even more uncanny is to make the distinction between first vs second but then to give the prize to Hamilton because she was a team lead of people who designed parts of the hardware that was used by the people who actually went up there as the first . That ' s at least as removed and tangential to being the first to set on the moon as being the second or third . Obama has had some very interesting Medal of Freedom choices for our space program , which look a lot like cherry picking through reams of people who made a significant contribution and handing out prizes to the women .