What are the odds? Sports bettors weigh in on 2 WA women’s chances going to the moon

Cameron Probert

With the Artemis I unmanned spacecraft on its way to the moon, people are already looking to a NASA astronaut’s return to the moon.

And several sports betting sites are saying Kayla Barron has the best odds to be the first woman to set foot on the dusty surface.

The 35-year-old Richland High graduate is the most likely to be one of the members of the 18-person “Artemis Team” to board the rocket when it blasts off sometime after 2025, according to sports betting community OLBG.com.

The 3-to-1 odds were set by online sports betting site, Betway, according to the OLBG post. It’s not clear what the odds are based on.

But Barron apparently has some tight competition for the title. Colorado native Jessica Watkins is just behind Barron at 4-to-1.

The other astronaut with Eastern Washington roots, Spokane’s Anne McClain, is also in the running, but odds makers believe she is at the back of the pack, according to the GamblingSites.com blog.

Crew-3 Mission Specialist Kayla Barron of NASA is pictured May 5 journeying back to Earth inside the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft following its undocking from the International Space Station.
Crew-3 Mission Specialist Kayla Barron of NASA is pictured May 5 journeying back to Earth inside the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft following its undocking from the International Space Station.

Wednesday’s unmanned launch is just the first step for the U.S. to head back to the moon. The Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket launched about 2 a.m. Wednesday, Eastern Time.

The mission, which will circle the moon, is aimed at testing the spacecraft including the solar power, navigation and life support system before it returns to Earth, according to NASA.

All of this is to test for NASA’s first manned mission to the moon in more than 50 years, and a planned sustained human presence. That return is hoped to be the first step in exploring Mars.

The Artemis program has been called “this generation’s Apollo.”

In this photo made available by NASA, four commercial crew astronauts, from left, European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron pose for a photo in their Dragon spacesuits during a fit check aboard the International Space Station’s Harmony module on April 21, 2022.
In this photo made available by NASA, four commercial crew astronauts, from left, European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron pose for a photo in their Dragon spacesuits during a fit check aboard the International Space Station’s Harmony module on April 21, 2022.

Barron appeared on NASA’s live stream of the event early Wednesday.

“The moon is a super interesting place to study,” she said. “It can tell us a lot about Earth, it’s own formation, but also more about our solar system.”

NASA astronaut Kayla Barron, right, co-anchors the Wednesday morning launch of Artemis I with NASA broadcaster Megan Cruz in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Orion capsule that was successfully launched is expected to reach the moon Monday in the Artemis Program’s first unmanned trip to orbit the moon.
NASA astronaut Kayla Barron, right, co-anchors the Wednesday morning launch of Artemis I with NASA broadcaster Megan Cruz in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Orion capsule that was successfully launched is expected to reach the moon Monday in the Artemis Program’s first unmanned trip to orbit the moon.

Barron, an submarine warfare officer, engineer and U.S. Naval Academy graduate was named to astronaut corps in 2017. She was part of the first class of women commissioned into the submarine community, NASA said.

She told the Tri-City Herald in January 2021 that going to the moon was what made her excited about being an astronaut in the first place.

She was part of the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission which launched an Nov. 10, 2021, and she spent six months on the International Space Station. It was the agency’s third long-term commercial crew mission.

After her return, she told the Herald that she is hoping to be assigned to a space exploration project.

NASA astronaut Kayla Barron, a Richland High School graduate, visits Richland following her return from space.
NASA astronaut Kayla Barron, a Richland High School graduate, visits Richland following her return from space.

She said Wednesday that all of the astronauts involved are just honored to be part of the team working on the project.

“We’re just a small representation of all of the amazing human beings around the world that it takes to do something as audacious as returning to the moon,” she said Wednesday.

“We’re all just excited to support the program in any way we can, but, of course, a ride to the moon would be incredible.”

NASA astronaut Kayla Barron received her pin as a NASA astronaut who has flown in space from astronaut Tom Marshburn shortly after boarding the International Space Station on Nov. 12, 2021.
NASA astronaut Kayla Barron received her pin as a NASA astronaut who has flown in space from astronaut Tom Marshburn shortly after boarding the International Space Station on Nov. 12, 2021.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in a release Wednesday that 44 Washington state companies were part of Wednesday’s launch.

“Today’s success is key to inspiring the next generation of STEM workers and to maintaining U.S. leadership in space, which is why we fought to authorize NASA and Artemis in the recently passed CHIPS & Science Act,” she said.

And she noted that it “lays the groundwork for landing a woman and a person of color on the moon for the first time in history.”

Cantwell was one of the sponsors for the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2020 that recognized the Artemis missions in U.S. law, and provided certainty and stability for the program.

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