The Mercury 13

The Mercury 13
Author :
Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
Total Pages : 282
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780375758935
ISBN-13 : 0375758933
Rating : 4/5 (933 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Mercury 13 by : Martha Ackmann

Download or read book The Mercury 13 written by Martha Ackmann and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2004-07-13 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For readers of The Astronaut Wives Club, The Mercury 13 reveals the little-known true story of the remarkable women who trained for NASA 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 at the legendary Lovelace Foundation as did the Mercury 7 astronauts, but they were summarily dismissed by the boys’ club at NASA and on Capitol Hill. The USSR sent its first woman into space in 1963; the United States did not follow suit for another twenty years. For the first time, 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 at NASA and in the White House with firsthand knowledge of the program, and includes here never-before-seen photographs of the Mercury 13 passing their Lovelace tests. Despite the crushing disappointment of watching their dreams being derailed, the Mercury 13 went on to extraordinary achievement in their lives: Jerrie Cobb, who began flying when she was so small she had to sit on pillows to see out of the cockpit, dedicated her life to flying solo missions to the Amazon rain forest; Wally Funk, who talked her way into the Lovelace trials, went on to become one of the first female FAA investigators; Janey Hart, mother of eight and, at age forty, the oldest astronaut candidate, had the political savvy to steer the women through congressional hearings and later helped found the National Organization for Women. A provocative tribute to these extraordinary women, The Mercury 13 is an unforgettable story of determination, resilience, and inextinguishable hope.


The Mercury 13 Related Books

The Mercury 13
Language: en
Pages: 282
Authors: Martha Ackmann
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2004-07-13 - Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

For readers of The Astronaut Wives Club, The Mercury 13 reveals the little-known true story of the remarkable women who trained for NASA space flight. In 1961,
Fighting for Space
Language: en
Pages: 427
Authors: Amy Shira Teitel
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-02-18 - Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Spaceflight historian Amy Shira Teitel tells the riveting story of the female pilots who each dreamed of being the first American woman in space. When the space
Almost Astronauts
Language: en
Pages: 144
Authors: Tanya Lee Stone
Categories: Juvenile Nonfiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-09-27 - Publisher: Candlewick Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

They had the right stuff. They defied the prejudices of the time. And they blazed a trail for generations of women to follow. What does it take to be an astrona
Failure Is Not an Option
Language: en
Pages: 427
Authors: Gene Kranz
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-06-23 - Publisher: Simon and Schuster

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The author, flight director in NASA's Mission Control, tells of the challenges in space flight from the very early years to the current time and of "his own bol
Right Stuff, Wrong Sex
Language: en
Pages: 262
Authors: Margaret A. Weitekamp
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2004 - Publisher: JHU Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

space program and the rise of the women's movement in America.