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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Early Space Capsules deemed Women Free

March is Womens History Month, and I never knew about these ladies who fought to join in the start of the American space program...

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Out of the original 25 applicants, 13 were chosen for further testing at the Naval Aviation center in Pensacola, FL.

Expecting the next round of tests to be the first step in training which would allow them to become astronaut trainees, several of the women quit their jobs in order to be able to go. Shortly before they were scheduled to report, the women received telegrams canceling the Pensacola testing. Without an official NASA request to run the tests, the Navy would not allow the use of their facilities.

Jerrie Cobb (the first woman to qualify) and Janey Hart (the forty-one year old mother who was also married to U.S. Senator Philip Hart of Michigan) campaigned in Washington to have the program continue. They contacted President Kenendy and Vice President Johnson. They attended hearings Janey Hart chaired by Representative Victor Anfuso and testified on behalf of the women. Jackie Cochran, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and George Low all testified that including women in the Mercury Project or creating a special program for them would be a detriment to the space program. NASA required all astronauts to be jet test pilots and have engineering degrees. Since no women could meet these requirements, no women qualified to become astronauts. The Subcommittee expressed sympathy, but did not rule on the question.

More here: space.about.com/od/spaceexplorationhistory/a/mercury13.htm

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So Glenn & Carpenter actively lobbied against admitting women, eh? I learn something new everyday!

[obviousman]

Amongst the books written about these extraordinary ladies is 'PROMISED THE MOON'. I'd highly recommend it to any space buffs as part of the forgotten history of NASA.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I have not read the book, but it looks like one to add to the list... #Thumbsup#

Here is a mini review of the project:

The story of the "Mercury 13," as some call these women, is pretty well known in the spaceflight history community. In 1960, Dr. W. Randolph 'Randy' Lovelace II invited Geraldyn 'Jerrie' Cobb to undergo the physical fitness testing regimen that he had helped to develop to select the original U.S. astronauts, the Mercury Seven. Jerrie Cobb became the first American woman to do so, and she proved every bit as successful in the tests as had John Glenn and the other Mercury astronauts. Thereafter, Lovelace and Jerrie Cobb began to recruit more women to take the tests, totally without NASA involvement. Jacqueline Cochran, the famous American aviatrix and an old friend of Lovelace, joined their recruiting effort and volunteered to pay the testing expenses.

By the end of the summer of 1961, twenty-five women had undergone the examinations at the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The women came to New Mexico alone or in pairs for four days of tests. All of the women were skilled airplane pilots with commercial ratings. Most of them were recruited through the Ninety-Nines, a women pilot's organization.

Of those tested, thirteen women did exceptionally well and became known as the "First Lady Astronaut Trainees" or "Mercury 13." A few then agreed to undertake additional tests, and some believed that the further testing represented the first step allowing them to become astronauts, although there was never any intent of this on the part of NASA officials. Indeed, Mercury project managers were unaware of these tests.

When NASA officials learned about Lovelace's attempts for further tests from the Navy, which Lovelace had asked to undertake these tests at Pensacola, they told Navy flight surgeons that this was not a NASA project. The Navy then canceled the tests. Jerrie Cobb and Janey Hart (married to U.S. Senator Philip Hart of Michigan) then began a campaign in Washington, D.C. to have the testing program resumed. On the July 17-18, 1962, Representative Victor Anfuso chaired hearings of a special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics about this subject. Jerrie Cobb and Janey Hart testified for the women. John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and George Low testified for NASA that setting up a special program to train women astronauts would hamper the effort to reach the Moon by the end of the decade. This ended the hearing and no women entered the NASA astronaut corps.

When Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963, Clare Booth Luce published an article about the women in "Life" magazine criticizing NASA for not achieving this first. It included contemporary photos of all thirteen women. Of course, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983, and in 1995 Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle. At Collins' invitation, eight of these women attended her launch.

In hindsight, one may criticize NASA leaders for not expanding the astronaut corps to women but there is no documentation whatsoever to suggest that there was even a consideration of doing so at the time. Perhaps John Glenn said it best when he remarked in recent years that the agency was reflective of its times. It is important to note, I think, that the first astronauts selected after the completion of Project Apollo--the class of 1978--did include women and other minorities, and therefore reflected the social changes experienced in the nation as a result of the women's movement.

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Great that the all boys club has changed.