On Friday, in a tiny, private room in an airy co-working space in New York City, I spoke to NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and NASA CTO for IT Deborah Diaz about coding, science and the challenges women face in male-dominated sectors.

“When I was young, it never occurred to me to be an astronaut,” Coleman said. “I met Dr. Sally Ride in college, and it changed my life. It wasn’t that I thought, oh, I should do that. I thought maybe that could be me. Maybe I could try to do that.”

We were at Civic Hall for NASA’s first-ever Data Bootcamp. The Bootcamp, with a focus on ‘women in data,’ was a day-long, panel-filled event that encouraged female and amateur coders to participate in NASA’s fourth annual International Space Apps Challenge. The Space Apps hackathon launched on Saturday, and lasts throughout the weekend.