The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight-Fast Shipping

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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 underwentsecret testing in the hopes of becoming America’s first female astronauts. They passedthe same battery of tests at the legendary Lovelace Foundation as did the Mercury7 astronauts, but they were summarily dismissed by the boys’ club at NASA and onCapitol Hill. The USSR sent its first woman into space in 1963; the United Statesdid not follow suit for another twenty years.

For the first time, Martha Ackmanntells the story of the dramatic events surrounding these thirteen remarkable women,all crackerjack pilots and patriots who sometimes sacrificed jobs and marriages fora chance to participate in America’s space race against the Soviet Union. In additionto talking extensively to these women, Ackmann interviewed Chuck Yeager, John Glenn,Scott Carpenter, and others at NASA and in the White House with firsthand knowledgeof the program, and includes here never-before-seen photographs of the Mercury 13passing their Lovelace tests.

Despite the crushing disappointment of watching theirdreams being derailed, the Mercury 13 went on to extraordinary achievement in theirlives: Jerrie Cobb, who began flying when she was so small she had to sit on pillowsto see out of the cockpit, dedicated her life to flying solo missions to the Amazonrain forest; Wally Funk, who talked her way into the Lovelace trials, went on tobecome 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 thewomen through congressional hearings and later helped found the National Organizationfor Women.

A provocative tribute to these extraordinary women, The Mercury 13 isan unforgettable story of determination, resilience, and inextinguishable hope.