2023-10-06 14:22:10
On April 9, 1959, NASA presented to the press the seven astronauts of the manned Mercury project, immediately baptized as the “Magnificent 7.” Their instantaneous popularity would awaken authentic public devotion that would culminate in the frequent labeling of “heroes.” His photographs and biographies would flood the print media, radio and television.
Based on the supposed complexity and danger of space travel, military or test pilots had been chosen for the task, men capable of reacting to any unforeseen event and enduring harsh situations. There were 7 men, and indeed, no women, which was not entirely unusual because few of them had been able to access positions like those from which the Mercury astronauts came. In fact, NASA itself refused to consider accepting candidates for its manned program.
However, not everyone agreed. Don Flickinger and Randy Lovelace decided to unofficially organize a selection during which a series of female pilots would be subjected to the same physical tests as their male counterparts. Starting in 1960, the Lovelace Foundation carried out these tests, and these were surpassed by a group of 13 that would end up receiving the internal name of Mercury 13. Despite everything, NASA continued to refuse to consider the inclusion of women in the manned program, leaving all these women without a chance to fly. Manned missions would be taken over by their male counterparts, and the arrival of the risky Apollo program, with the Gemini as preparation for the latter, ended up definitively setting them aside.
The truth is that some of these women astronauts, who were never considered candidates in a formal group by NASA, were as prepared for space travel as their male colleagues. Disappointed by this circumstance, they little by little abandoned the initiative. Not even the flight of the Soviet Valentina Tereshkova, who traveled basically for propaganda reasons, led to a reconsideration of the flight status of the Mercury 13, and we would have to wait several decades, with the arrival of the space shuttle program, for it to again NASA will consider selecting women as astronauts.
Almost unknown, the Mercury 13 would later be claimed. Their story and the vicissitudes they went through are those that Martha Ackmann tells in her book, The Forgotten Astronauts. In it we will learn about the origin of the private female astronaut program, the tests they had to overcome, and the obstacles they would later encounter that would prevent them from fulfilling their dream. The work places special emphasis on the life of Jerrie Cobb, possibly the most prepared of them all, and an example of perseverance and courage in a world, also the space world, of men.
Martha Ackmann is a journalist and writer specialized in stories about women, and she is not really an expert in science and technology, but perhaps precisely for this reason, her work is an example of documentation and exhibition of aspects that are more human than technical, a compendium of small stories that will undoubtedly move readers.
Firefly Editions. 2023. Hardcover, 347 pages. ISBN: 978-84-4191-164-7
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