jtotheizzoe:

spacetravelco:

The First Lady Astronaut Trainees / Mercury 13

“The men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes and come back and help design and build and test them. The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order.”

- John Glenn of the Mercury 7, testifying before a House subcommittee in 1962

“The women underwent the identical tests that the male candidates had undergone. In the end, 68% of the women passed with ‘no medical reservations’ compared to 56% of the men. The 13 females who passed were known as the Mercury 13. They were Bernice ‘Bea’ Steadman, Janey Hart, Geraldine ‘Jerri’ Sloan Truhill, Rhea Allison Woltman, Sarah Lee Gorelick Ratley, Jan Dietrich, Marion Dietrich, Myrtle Cagle, Irene Leverton, Gene Nora Jessen, Jean Hixson, Wally Funk and Geraldyn ‘Jerrie’ Cobb…

Cobb had tested in the top 2% of all tested candidates, male and female.”

The Lovelace Woman in Space Program (1960-1962)

Amazing, I had never heard of this!