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A review by jarrahpenguin
The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight by Martha Ackmann
4.0
More than 20 years before Sally Ride became the first American woman in space, and three decades before Eileen Collins became the first American woman to command a space shuttle, 13 daring and determined female pilots put their careers, relationships and reputations on the line to try to become astronauts.
Martha Ackmann skillfully tells the story of the Mercury 13, the group of women who began testing to see if they could meet the same qualifications as NASA's male astronauts. Though their preliminary results were exemplary, in some cases surpassing the men's results under even more strenuous conditions, the testing was cut short and the women were denied the chance to ever become astronauts.
Ackmann illuminates the politics in NASA, in Washington, and the interpersonal politics that ended up scuppering the women's chances. But more importantly, she brings back the forgotten stories of these women, helping make sure that we remember the sacrifices they made and the injustices they faced, but also how much their contributions meant in terms of helping pave the way for women like Ride and Collins. Highly recommend for fans of space exploration history, aviation history American history and/or women's history.
Martha Ackmann skillfully tells the story of the Mercury 13, the group of women who began testing to see if they could meet the same qualifications as NASA's male astronauts. Though their preliminary results were exemplary, in some cases surpassing the men's results under even more strenuous conditions, the testing was cut short and the women were denied the chance to ever become astronauts.
Ackmann illuminates the politics in NASA, in Washington, and the interpersonal politics that ended up scuppering the women's chances. But more importantly, she brings back the forgotten stories of these women, helping make sure that we remember the sacrifices they made and the injustices they faced, but also how much their contributions meant in terms of helping pave the way for women like Ride and Collins. Highly recommend for fans of space exploration history, aviation history American history and/or women's history.