Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream

144 Pages·2013·26.8 MB·English

by  Stone Tanya Lee

Almost Astronauts

Almost Astronauts
13 Women Who Dared to Dream
TANYA LEE STONE
For the extraordinary women in my family,
beginning with Bessie,Sarah,Leah,and Dorothy—
all the way to Laurie,Sarah,Leah,and Liza
A Note about “Mercury 13”
The “Mercury 13” is actually a misnomer, as these thirteen
women were never part of the Mercury space program. But
because they went through many of the same tests that the
Mercury astronauts did, the “Mercury 13” has become the
nickname most often associated with the women in this story.
Text copyright © 2009 by Tanya Lee Stone
Photography credits appear on page 131.
Cover photographs: courtesy of NASA/Kennedy Space Center (space shuttle);
top left: courtesy of the estate of Jean Hixson/Pauline Vincent; top right: courtesy
of NASA; bottom right: the Woman’s Collection, Texas Woman’s University;
bottom left: courtesy of the Museum of Women Pilots
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted,
or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means,
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping,
and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2011
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Stone, Tanya Lee.
Almost astronauts : 13 women who dared to dream / byTanya Lee Stone. —1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes biographical references.
ISBN 978-0-7636-3611-1 (hardcover)
1. Women astronauts — United States — Biography — Juvenile literature.
2. Women astronauts — United States — History — 20th century — Juvenile literature.
3. Sex discrimination against women — United States — History — 20th Century —
Juvenile literature. 4. Project Mercury (U.S.) — History — Juvenile literature.I. Title.
TL789.85.A1S79 2008
629.450092’273 — dc22 2008017487
ISBN 978-0-7636-4502-1 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-7636-5609-6 (electronic)
Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
visit us at www.candlewick.com
Women must try to do things as men have tried.
When they fail, their failure must be but a
challenge to others.
—Amelia Earhart, in a letter she wrote shortly
before disappearing on her final flight
The world was divided into those who had it
and those who did not. This quality, this it, was
never named. . . . The idea was to prove . . .
that you were one of the elected and anointed
ones who had the right stuff.
—Tom Wolfe, from his novel The Right Stuff,
about the Mercury 7 astronauts

Contents
Foreword by Margaret A. Weitekamp ix
Chapter 1: T Minus Thirty-Eight Years 1
Chapter 2: I Jumped at the Offer 7
Chapter 3: NOT a Meaningful Test 23
Chapter 4: Mommy’s Going to the Moon! 35
Chapter 5: Too Good to Be True 45
Chapter 6: Regret to Advise . . . 53
Chapter 7: Let’s Stop This Now! 59
Chapter 8: Jerrie Cobb Isn’t Running This Program. I Am! 67
Chapter 9: The Men Go Off and Fight the Wars and Fly the Airplanes 77
Chapter 10: NASA Never Had any Intention of Putting Those Women in Space 87
Chapter 11: We Want to See a Woman Driving the Bus, Not Sitting in the Back 95
Chapter 12: I Am Living Proof That Dreams Do Come True 105
Author’s Note 119
Appendix 122
Further Reading 123
Webliography 123
Sources 123
Source Notes 127
Photography Credits 131
Index 132
Acknowledgments 134

Foreword
Whenever I give a public talk about the Lovelace Woman in Space program and the women
pilots who took astronaut fitness tests in the early 1960s, inevitably someone in the crowd
asks me if there is a book about these women that is suitable for young people.
Often the questioner has a daughter, or a granddaughter, or a niece who excels at math
and science or who is excited about aviation and space. She is a girl whom they would like
to encourage with new role models. The women in this book are those examples: pilots who
dreamed about the possibilities of spaceflight many years before that opportunity was
open to them.
Sometimes the person who is asking wants to give the book to a boy. They want to show
him that accomplished women and men stand on the shoulders of visionaries who pushed
the boundaries of what was possible. This is that history.
With clear writing, engaging characters, and compelling events, Tanya Lee Stone brings
this history to life. And she does so while offering nuanced historical arguments in simple
language. Young people will appreciate that she does not talk down to them.
I’m looking forward to the next time that I’m asked to recommend an accessible book
on this topic—because I finally have a satisfactory answer. Yes! This is that book.
Margaret A. Weitekamp
Curator, National Air and Space Museum
Smithsonian Institution