Cathy was the first widely syndicated humor strip created by a woman. The strip was pretty revolutionary at the time not only because it starred a female but also because it was so emotionally honest about all the conflicting feelings many women had in 1976.
Cartooning is a wonderful career and I'd like more women to get to have it. I can't think of any reason why we won't see more syndicated female cartoonists in the future.
Perhaps the best motivation for going to Mars is political. It is obvious that no single nation currently has either the will or the resources to do it alone but a consortium of nations and space agencies could achieve it within 20 years.