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A review by sjhensley4
The Mercury 13 the Mercury 13 by Martha Ackmann
4.0
I've heard of Sally Ride. Eileen Collins. Judith Resnik. Shannon Lucid. Before this book, I had never heard of Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Sloan, B Steadman, Wally Funk, or any other of the 13 women pilots who left their homes, jobs, and families to test for a chance to go into space in the early 1960s. They faced an immense lack of support and a large amount of sexism. Their contributions paved the way for the ladies that I first listed, to finally go into space 20 years later.
It was maddening to me that one of the biggest obstacles was another woman who wanted to use her husband's wealth to control all of the decisions and bask in the publicity of her piloting. She did not want any of the 13 to eclipse her accomplishments.
Just recently, a woman was unable to execute a spacewalk because there wasn't a uniform that fit her. So this book is actually quite timely, and shows that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
"In a way, the Air Force response sounded like a 'wife joke' offered up by some tired comedian on the Ed Sullivan show. 'Why couldn't women be astronauts? Because they had nothing to wear.'"
This was an interesting look into a history largely unknown to me. Thank you, Mercury 13!
It was maddening to me that one of the biggest obstacles was another woman who wanted to use her husband's wealth to control all of the decisions and bask in the publicity of her piloting. She did not want any of the 13 to eclipse her accomplishments.
Just recently, a woman was unable to execute a spacewalk because there wasn't a uniform that fit her. So this book is actually quite timely, and shows that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
"In a way, the Air Force response sounded like a 'wife joke' offered up by some tired comedian on the Ed Sullivan show. 'Why couldn't women be astronauts? Because they had nothing to wear.'"
This was an interesting look into a history largely unknown to me. Thank you, Mercury 13!