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In 1960, not long after NASA publicly announced the names of the seven pilots who became the first American men in space, a private organization started recruiting women to undergo some of the same psychological and physical tests administered to the so-called Mercury Seven. The purpose: to see if the challenges of flying beyond Earth’s atmosphere differed by gender.
Director: David Sington, Heather Walsh
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“59 different women total including cosmonauts, astronauts, payload specialists, and foreign nationals have flown in space.”
Learn more facts about the history of women in space on NASA’s website.
“Some important context about the would-be first American women in space: how the program happened, and why it folded.”
Read the article on The Verge.
“Hundreds of humans have flown in space. Only 40 women have made the journey…”
See the complete timeline on NPR.
“Critics had plenty of reasons for wanting to disqualify women from spaceflight in its early stages—but none of them stuck.”
Read more on The Atlantic.
“It’s no secret that women are underrepresented in various sectors, from politics and banking to engineering and computing. But what about when it comes to space exploration?”
Visit Big Think for their infographic.
“National Air and Space Museum visitors frequently ask, ‘Where are the women pilots?’ The answer is that they are in nearly every gallery of the Museum.”
Find all the women in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s exhibitions in their online guide.
“In a new Netflix documentary, the tales of 13 female pilots who dreamed of becoming astronauts yet were denied the opportunity by Nasa are finally brought to light.”
Read more on The Guardian.
“The iconic line has become so familiar that it might be hard to imagine it any other way: as the first man on the moon put it, his achievement was ‘one small step for man.’ ”
Continue reading on Time.
"A soaring tribute to some aviation pioneers."
Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter
"As far as the ‘story’ that has been passed down through popular culture: since it was men who went to space, it was always men who were meant to go. MERCURY 13 destroys those assumptions."
Sheila O'Malley, RogerEbert.com
"MERCURY 13 is a telling reminder of all the barriers women have had to face to be considered as equal in the spaceflight industry."
Alessandra Potenza, The Verge
