| What a really great question! [I recently "lectured" at a local elementary
school on the space program and some similar questions were raised about the
current stated of women in the space program, so now I've got another reason
to probe it a bit further!]
These are just off the top of my head -- I'll try to dig up some additional
details in the next few weeks (if others don't beat me to it).
1. Why were women ruled out of the Mercury program?
I think you will find the official reason was that astronauts "had" to be
military pilots (preferably from the test pilot side of the house), and there
just weren't any women who were. All high-speed jets were military combat
planes, and the U.S. government did not allow women to participate in combat
roles (this is *just* starting to change 30+ years later).
To a small extent, I think the requirement that the astronauts be highly
experienced test pilots was somewhat justified (especially for the early days),
but for the most part I think the attitudes of the day held far more sway than
any objective evidence that existed.
2. Were women part of the big picture from day one, or was space programs forced
to use women because of the women movement?
Well I wasn't there, so this is just based on my reading of the space program
as a hobby. There were very *few* women involved in the space program from
the highest levels on down until you reached the contractors and assembly
workers (the exception here would be secretaries and office managers). Besides
the craftspeople who built the spacecraft, the most prominent area women were
noted for were the skills of building space suits.
I know of one woman who figured prominently in the development of the Space
Telescope (HST nowadays), but she was a scientist (astronomer) not an engineer,
so it is a tangential reference at best.
I've seen references to a very small number of female engineers working in the
various space programs (Mercury/Gemini/Apollo). I'll bet the ratio was easily
100:1.
I think the higher involvement of women in the space program came primarily from
the women's movement challenging and supporting young women to pursue science
and engineering careers -- which naturally led to their increased visibility
in the space program(s).
3. What happened to the first women tested for the Mercury program?
I believe there was a recent Air & Space article related to this. I will dig
it up when I get home. [I hope I'm not suffering from neural crosstalk on this.]
- dave
[I answered one of the 4th grader's questions with "I think the first person
on Mars will be probably be a woman in the year 2040 or so." :-) -dg]
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| Actually these women were quite accomplished test pilots. According to
"Final Frontier" 25 women pilots, who at the time were at the peak of
their aviation careers, were called to participate in the series of tests
as required for the astronaut program. Twelve FLATs (for Fellow Lady
Astronaut Trainee, as they were called) eventually passed the first round
of 75 exhaustive physical, laboratory, x-ray, psychological and other
tests. All of them were as well trained and committed to aviation as
their male counterparts, the Mercuri Seven. One good example is Mary
Wallace Funk who at that time had around 10,000 hours of flying time
while most of the Mercuri astronauts had an average of four to five
thousand. Mary also had a college degree and beat John Glen on the stress
test, bicycle analysis test and lung power tests. Additionally, she beat
Wally Schirra on vertigo and set a record in the bicycle endurance and
isolation tests (stayed 10 1/2 hours in the isolation tank when previous
test subjects had only lasted about 4 1/2 hours before lapsing into
hallucinations). Another good example was Jerrie Cob. She was a
28 year old professional pilot with 16 years of experience, had
logged more than 7,000 hours of flight time, broken the sound barrier in
a TR-102 Delta Dagger and grabbed three world records on speed and
altitude. However, after completing the first two stages of their
testing, and just before starting phase 3, they were notified that all
further tests had been canceled. The reasons for that can still be
debated, but I don't believe that a good reason was ever given.
Here is a summary of the other 12 FLATs:
Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk II : Only 22 at the time of the first tests,
Funk was the youngest of the group. She had graduated from Oklahoma State
at age 20, where she led the schools's team in aviation competitions
before becoming an Army flight instructor.
Jean Hixson: Then 39, she was a WASP (Women Air-Force Service Pilot)
engineering test pilot at a B-52 base in World War II. Afterwards she
became a flight instructor and earned bachelor's and master's degrees. An
Air Force Reserve officer, she was the second woman to break the sound
barrier.
Geraldine Hamilton Sloan Truhill: At 33 she had been flying for 19 years.
She was a pilot for a Dallas firm that modified, maintained and sold
aircraft. They were developing a terrain-following radar for the first
aeronautical infrared systems, and part of her job was to coordinate
design of the systems with flight crews and engineers.
Marion and Jan Dietrich: Twin sisters who at age 36 had been flying for
20 years, they had been winning against male competitors in air races
since they were teenagers. Each had commercial and instructors' licenses
and had broken the sound barrier in jets.
Rhae Hurrie Allison: At 32, a charter pilot and instructor, she delivered
planes around the country for an air brokerage business.
Myrtle Grey Thompson Cagle: By age 38 she had flown for 24 years. She
operated Selma, North Carolina airport for 10 years and had over 8,000
hours of flying time.
Jane Briggs Hart: A seasoned pilot at 41, she ferried her husband
Phillip Hart, doing his campaign for the US Senate and later flew Rose
Kennedy along the campaign trail for her son John.
Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen: Then 26, she had gone to work after
graduating from college for an aircraft manufacturer, teaching, flying and
demonstrating planes.
Irene Leverton: Also an avid parachutist, the 36 year old pilot supervised
a flying school in California.
Sara Lee Gorelik Rately: At 29, with a degree in mathematics, she was an
experienced aviator working for AT&T as an engineer.
Bernice Trimble Steadman: Then 37, she had stopped logging her flight
hours after reaching the 10,000 mark. She had air transport, instrument
and instructors' ratings, took part in transcontinental air races and
owned an aviation school in Flint, Michigan.
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