Mercury 13

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Woman in Space Program
Seven Members of the First Lady Astronaut Trainees in 1995 - GPN-2002-000196.jpg
Seven surviving FLATs attending the STS-63 launch (1995). (From left to right: Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Sloan Truhill, Sarah Ratley, Myrtle Cagle, and Bernice Steadman.)
Program overview
CountryUnited States
OrganizationPrivately funded program
PurposeMedical and physiological astronaut testing
StatusDiscontinued
Program history
Duration1959–1962

The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who in 1959-60 took part in a privately funded research program run by physician William Randolph Lovelace II, a private contractor to NASA, which aimed to test and screen the women for spaceflight. The first participant, pilot Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb helped Lovelace identify and recruit the others. The participants successfully underwent the same physiological screening tests as the astronauts selected by NASA for Project Mercury. While Lovelace called the project Woman in Space Program, [1] the thirteen women later became known as the "Mercury 13"— a term coined in 1995 as a comparison to the Mercury Seven astronauts. The Mercury 13 were not allowed into the astronaut program, never trained as a group, and did not fly into space.

Contents

In the 1960's some of the women were among those who lobbied the White House and Congress to include women in the astronaut program. In 1963, Clare Boothe Luce wrote an article for LIFE magazine publicizing the women and criticizing NASA for its failure to include women in the astronaut program. [2] One of the thirteen, Wally Funk, flew aboard the sub-orbital Blue Origin New Shepard 4 on the 20 July, 2021 Flight 16, making her the (then) oldest person to go into space at age 82 (Ed Dwight flew into space at the age of 90 in 2024). [3]

The story of these women has been retold in books, exhibits, and movies, including the 2018 Netflix-produced documentary Mercury 13.

History

Jerrie Cobb with a Mercury capsule (c. early 1960s) JerrieCobb MercuryCapsule.jpg
Jerrie Cobb with a Mercury capsule (c.early 1960s)

House Committee Hearing on Gender Discrimination

When the Pensacola testing was cancelled, Jerrie Cobb immediately flew to Washington, D.C. to try to have the testing program resumed. She and Janey Hart wrote to President John F. Kennedy and visited Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Finally, on 17 and 18 July 1962, Representative Victor Anfuso (D-NY) convened public hearings before a special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics. [16] Significantly, the hearings investigated the possibility of gender discrimination two years before passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that made such actions illegal.

Cobb and Hart testified about the benefits of Lovelace's private project. Jacqueline Cochran largely undermined their testimony, talking about her concerns that setting up a special program to train a woman astronaut could hurt the space program. She proposed a project with a large group of women, and expected a significant amount to drop out due to reasons like "marriage, childbirth, and other causes". [8] Though Cochran initially supported the program, she was later responsible for delaying further phases of testing, and letters from her to members of the Navy and NASA expressing concern over whether the program was to be run properly and in accordance with NASA goals may have significantly contributed to the eventual cancellation of the program. It is generally accepted that Cochran turned against the program out of concern that she would no longer be the most prominent female aviator. [17]

NASA representatives George Low and Astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter testified that under NASA's selection criteria women could not qualify as astronaut candidates. Glenn also believed that "The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order." [18] They correctly stated that NASA required all astronauts to be graduates of military jet test piloting programs and have engineering degrees, although John Glenn conceded that he had been assigned to NASA's Mercury Project without having earned the required college degree. [17] In 1962, women were still barred from Air Force training schools, so no American women could become test pilots of military jets. Despite the fact that several of the women had been employed as civilian test pilots, and many had considerably more propeller aircraft flying time than the male astronaut candidates (although not in high-performance jets, as the men had), NASA refused to consider granting an equivalency for their hours in the more basic propeller aircraft, [19] it was presumed at the time that training and experience in piloting jet and rocket aircraft, such as the X-15 then being developed, would be "most useful for transition to spacecraft." [20] Jan Dietrich had accumulated 8,000 hours, Mary Wallace Funk 3,000 hours, Irene Leverton 9,000+, and Jerrie Cobb 10,000+. [21] Although some members of the Subcommittee were sympathetic to the women's arguments[ citation needed ] because of this disparity in accepted experience, no action resulted.

Executive Assistant to Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Liz Carpenter, drafted a letter to NASA administrator James E. Webb questioning these requirements, but Johnson did not send the letter, instead writing across it, "Let's stop this now!" Historian Margaret Weitekamp discovered the letter in the late 1990s in the handwriting file of Johnson's Vice Presidential papers held in Austin, Texas and revealed its existence in her dissertation and book on the Lovelace women. [22]

The pilot paradox

The qualifications for prospective astronauts had been a point of contention after the creation of NASA in 1958. The proposition for astronauts to have a background as a pilot was a logical choice, specifically test pilots with a disposition to train and learn to fly new craft designs. Pilot certification in the United States rates in 1960 were 244,662 males compared to only 4218 females, providing a much larger pool to draw from candidate wise. The consensus sought jet test pilots from the military, a field where women were not allowed at the time, and by default excluded from consideration. However, NASA also required potential astronauts to hold college degrees – a qualification that John Glenn of the Mercury 7 group did not possess. Although Glenn had begun studying chemistry at Muskingum College in 1939, when the United States entered World War II he left college before completing his final year to enlist in the U.S. Navy, [23] demonstrating that NASA was sometimes willing to make exceptions to these requirements. The larger issue behind this pretense, recognized by Glenn and the overall fight of the Mercury 13, was the organization of social order. Change was needed for women to be considered, but vehemently resisted in secrecy by those already benefiting from their gender-supported positions. Little to no support ever surfaced for the merit, strength, or intellect women possessed for the role of an astronaut, despite the evidence for the contrary. [24] Some obvious concerns for NASA during the space race included, but were not limited to, oxygen consumption and weight for the drag effect on takeoff. After the undeniable success of their testing, the FLATs were no longer having to prove their physical and psychological fitness. They were pushing the 'social order' to convince NASA that women had a right to hold the same roles men were granted as astronauts. [25] It was not until 1972 that an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 finally granted women legal assistance for entering the realm of space. By 1978, the jet fighter pilot requirement was no longer an obstacle for women candidates. NASA had its first class with women that year. They were admitted into a new category of astronaut, the mission specialist. [15]

Media attention

Lovelace's privately funded women's testing project received renewed media attention when Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on June 16, 1963. In response, Clare Boothe Luce published an article in Life criticizing NASA and American decision-makers. [2] By including photographs of all thirteen Lovelace finalists, she made the names of all thirteen women public for the first time. On June 17, 1963 New York Times published Jerrie Cobb's comments following the Soviet launch, saying it was "a shame that since we are eventually going to put a woman into space, we didn't go ahead and do it first." [26]

There have been countless newspaper articles, films, and books made about the Mercury 13, but they were never featured on the front page or front runner of any media network. [9] Those opposing the inclusion of women in training as astronauts created an environment where women could be seen to possess either the "virtue of patience" or the "vice of impatience" [15] in terms of U.S. success in the space race.

The media often portrayed the women as unqualified candidates due what was called their frail and emotional structure that implied that they could not undergo the severity that men do. On the day of July 17, 1962, a hearing was set in place for Jerrie Cobb's and Jane Hart's testimony. In further detail, Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream, justifies the hearings and statements done by the two as well as the reporters and the press. Their testimonies make inquiries about the discrimination among women and that their talents should not be prejudged or prequalified due to the fact that they are not men. [24] A scientific writer of The Dallas Times Herald went so far as to plead with Mr. Vice President Johnson to allow women to "wear pants and shoot pool, but please do not let them into space." [25]

First American female astronaut

Although both Cobb and Cochran made separate appeals for years afterwards to restart a women's astronaut testing project, the U.S. civil space agency did not select any female astronaut candidates until Astronaut Group 8 in 1978, which selected astronauts for the operational Space Shuttle program. Astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983 on STS-7, and Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle during STS-63 in 1995. Collins also became the first woman to command a Space Shuttle mission during STS-93 in 1999. In 2005, she commanded NASA's return to flight mission, STS-114. At Collins' invitation, seven of the surviving Lovelace finalists attended her first launch, [27] ten of the FLATs attended her first command mission, and she has flown mementos for almost all of them. BBC News reported that if it wasn't for the rules that further restrained them from flying, then the first woman to go to space could have been an American. [28]

Collins on becoming an astronaut: "When I was very young and first started reading about astronauts, there were no female astronauts." She was inspired while she was a child by the Mercury astronauts and by the time she was in high school and college, more opportunities were opening up for women who wanted a part in aviation. Collins then tried out the Air Force and during her very first month's training exercises her base was visited by the newest astronaut class. This class was the first to include women. From that point, she knew that "I wanted to be part of our nation's space program. It's the greatest adventure on this planet – or off the planet, for that matter. I wanted to fly the Space Shuttle." [29]

Other notable influences

The first woman in space, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, was arguably less qualified than the FLATs having no qualifications as a pilot or scientist. Upon meeting Jerrie Cobb, Tereshkova told Cobb that Cobb was Tereshkova's role model and asked "we always figured you would be first. What happened?" [24]

Honors and awards

Literature about or referencing the group

Past and current parallels

"Before their time"

Reflecting on the events of 1962 and the outcome of the Mercury 13, astronaut Scott Carpenter said, "NASA never had any intention of putting those women in space. The whole idea was foisted upon it, and it was happy to have the research data, but those women were before their time." [24] Despite the importance of the physiological data collected during the 1960-61 testing of the women, it was subsequently lost and the research had to be repeated in the 1970s. [10]

Reflecting on the exclusion of women from training as jet fighter pilots, The United States Air Force explicitly would not test women for high-altitude flight for lack of pressure suits in the correct sizes. Their response to the initial testing of female astronauts was that women could not become astronauts "because they had nothing to wear." [25]

In March 2019, NASA announced that there would be the first all-female spacewalk on the 29th of that month performed at the International Space Station. Anne McClain and Christina Koch were supposed to make history that day, but complications arose when there was a lack of spacesuit availability. NASA has had issues when it comes to spacesuit sizes claiming that they only come in medium, large and extra-large sizes. In the 1990s, NASA stopped making spacesuit sizes in small due to technical glitches. [41] This had a huge impact on women astronauts and later led to the cancellation. The long-delayed first all-female spacewalk finally occurred on October 18, 2019, with Koch and Jessica Meir performing the task, and astronaut Stephanie Wilson acting as Capcom. [42]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Weitekamp, Margaret A. (October 11, 2004). "Lovelace's woman in space program". NASA History Program Office. Archived from the original on January 20, 2024. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Luce, Clare Boothe. (June 28, 1963). "The U.S. Team Is Still Warming Up The Bench but some people simply never get the message". Life Magazine, pages: 32–33.
  3. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-69041754
  4. "NASA Group 1 Mercury Astronauts". Spaceline. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023.
  5. "Mercury 13". ESA. June 16, 2013. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  6. "Space Medicine Association". Archived from the original on April 25, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  7. Weitekamp, Margaret (2004). Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: America's First Woman in Space Program. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 77. ISBN   978-0801883941.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Teitel, Amy (2020). Fighting for space: two pilots and their historic battle for female spaceflight. New York: Grand Central Publishing. pp. 317–329. ISBN   978-1-5387-1604-5. OCLC   1137736919.
  9. 1 2 Funk, Wally. "Our History Women in Aviation History 'Mercury 13' Story by Wally..." The Ninety-Nines, Inc. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  10. 1 2 Ryan, Kathy L.; Loeppky, Jack A.; Kilgore, Donald E. (September 2009). "A forgotten moment in physiology: the Lovelace Woman in Space Program (1960–1962)". Advances in Physiology Education. 33 (3): 157–164. doi:10.1152/advan.00034.2009. ISSN   1043-4046. PMID   19745040. S2CID   19540924.
  11. 1 2 "NASA flats". Archived from the original on 2021-03-09. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  12. "Qualifications for Astronauts Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on the Selection of Astronauts of the Committee on Science and Astronautics". United States House of Representatives, 87th Congress, 2nd Session. United States Government Publishing Office. July 17, 1962.
  13. Lopez, Cory (2008-06-17). "Bay Area pilot Janet Christine Dietrich dies". San Francisco Chronicle . Hearst Communications . Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  14. "Jerrie Cobb Poses beside Mercury Capsule". Archived from the original on December 24, 2011. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  15. 1 2 3 Lathers, Marie (2010). Space Oddities. doi:10.5040/9781628928976. ISBN   9781628928976.
  16. Qualifications for Astronauts: Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on the Selection of Astronauts Archived 2015-12-11 at the Wayback Machine , U.S. House of Representatives, 87th Cong. (1962)
  17. 1 2 Martha Ackman. The Mercury Thirteen: The true story of thirteen women and the dream of space flight. Random House, New York, 2003, p. 166.
  18. Nolan, Stephanie (October 12, 2002). "One giant leap – backward: Part 2". The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on September 13, 2004. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  19. Stephanie Nolen. Promised the Moon: The untold story of the first women in the space race. Penguin Canada, Toronto, 2002, p. 240.
  20. "Historical Evolution of Astronaut Selection". Space Safety Magazine. Archived from the original on January 14, 2024. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  21. Lathers, Marie (2009). "No Official Requirement: Women, History, Time, and the U.S. Space Program". Feminist Studies. 35 (1): 14–40 via ebscohost.
  22. Weitekamp, Margaret A. Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: America's First Women in Space Program (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004) p.136-7 and photo insert between p. 90-1.
  23. "Off-Campus Credits for Glenn". The News-Messenger. Fremont, Ohio. Associated Press. October 4, 1983. p. 9. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2022 via Newspapers.com.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Stone, Tanya Lee (2009). Almost astronauts: 13 women who dared to dream . Weitekamp, Margaret A., 1971– (1st ed.). Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press. ISBN   9780763636111. OCLC   225846987.
  25. 1 2 3 Kassem, Fatima Sbaity (2013). "Can Women Break Through the Political Glass Ceiling?". Party Politics, Religion, and Women's Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 203–230. doi:10.1057/9781137333216_9. ISBN   9781137333216.
  26. "U.S. NOT PLANNING ORBIT BY WOMAN: Some Leading Fliers Have Protested Exclusion Several in Key Posts Soviet Flight 'Predictable'" . The New York Times . Washington (published June 17, 1963). Associated Press. June 16, 1963. p. 8 via ProQuest.
  27. Funk, Wally. "The Mercury 13 Story". The Ninety-Nines. Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  28. Nelson, Sue (July 19, 2016). "The Mercury 13: Women with the 'right stuff'". BBC News . Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  29. "Eileen Collins – NASA's First Female Shuttle Commander". NASA. October 4, 2003. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  30. "Honoring the Mercury 13 Women". University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. May 12, 2007. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023.
  31. Lucinda Hahn (June 20, 2005). "Adler board honors women who reached for the stars". Chicago Tribune.
  32. 1 2 "Geraldyn "Jerrie" M. Cobb Papers 1952–1998". National Air and Space Museum. August 23, 2017. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  33. "Wally Funk will fly to space on New Shepard's first human flight" (Press release). Blue Origin. July 1, 2021. Archived from the original on January 19, 2024. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  34. Doherty, Erin (July 20, 2021). "82-year-old Wally Funk becomes oldest person to fly to space — 60 years after first attempt". Yahoo! News . Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  35. Captain Marvel (2012) #1 (July 18, 2012)
  36. Siede, Caroline (August 20, 2015). "The Astronaut Wives Club salutes the female astronauts that America wouldn't". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on December 4, 2023.
  37. Kelsey, Erin (April 19, 2018). Birsel, Robert (ed.). "'Mercury 13' chronicles women in 1960s who trained for space flight". Reuters. Archived from the original on January 20, 2024.
  38. "Mercury 13 documentary on Netflix". Netflix.
  39. "Mercury 13 (2018) - IMDb". IMDb .
  40. For All Mankind , retrieved 2019-11-08
  41. Schwartz, Matthew S. "NASA Scraps First All-Female Spacewalk For Want Of A Medium-Size Spacesuit". NPR . Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  42. Zraick, Karen (October 18, 2019). "NASA Astronauts Complete the First All-Female Spacewalk: Jessica Meir and Christina Koch ventured outside the International Space Station on Friday to replace a power controller" . New York Times . Archived from the original on January 7, 2024.

References