The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight

In 1961, just as NASA launched its first man into space; a group of women underwent secret testing in the hopes of becoming America’s first female astronauts. They passed the same battery of tests as did the Mercury 7 astronauts, but they were summarily dismissed by the boys’ club at NASA and in the halls of Congress. The USSR sent its first women in space in 1963: The United States did not follow suit for another twenty years. Martha Ackmann tells the story of the dramatic events surrounding these thirteen remarkable women, all crackerjack pilots and patriots who sometimes sacrificed jobs and marriages for a chance to participate in America’s space race against the Soviet Union. In addition to talking extensively to these women, Ackmann interviewed Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and others with firsthand knowledge of the program, and includes here never before seen photographs of the Mercury 13 passing their tests at the legendary Lovelace Foundation. A lasting tribute, this book is an unforgettable story of determination, resilience, and inextinguishable hope.