Women in Space: 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity-Breaking Adventures
2 INTRODUCTION The Space Race began soon after the Allies won World War II America and the former Soviet Union inherited and made use of German technology specifically rocket technology Although the two countries had fought on the same side during World War II their relationship deteriorated in the years after ward The United States embraced democracy while the Soviet Union was ruled by communism Each side possessed nuclear weapons Though no open battles took place the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a cold war Both sides were convinced that their form of government was best A competition of sorts developed and the biggest contest was the Space Race The Soviet Union won the race to be first in space on October 4 1957 when Sputnik I was launched Weigh ing in at 184 pounds Sputnik I looked like a metal beach ball with four legs It orbited the Earth for 98 minutes Almost a month later Sputnik II went into space carrying a passenger a dog Launching a satellite was something the United States had been working on without much success One effort exploded on the launch pad The Soviets success spurred the United States on and America had its first success on January 31 1958 Explorer I was launched with a scientific unit that discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth later known as the Van Allen belts The Explorer and Sputnik programs continued with scien tific exploration although both the United States and the Soviet Union still had the occasional failure Six months after the first Explorer satellite the US Congress passed the National Aero nautics and Space Act to provide for research into problems of flight within and outside the earth’s atmosphere and for other purposes 1 Initially the US Department of Defense oversaw space mat ters but President Eisenhower saw the need for a civilian space
INTRODUCTION 3 agency Many people voiced the opinion that space exploration wasn’t a military matter but a scientific one The National Aero nautics and Space Administration NASA was born Everyone knew that the next step was putting a person into space NASA established the Mercury project to reach that goal President Eisenhower a five-star army general decided that astronaut candidates should be selected from a pool of military test pilots NASA began looking for experienced test pilots with approximately 1,500 hours of flight experience Hundreds were screened Groups underwent some of the testing at the Lovelace Medical Clinic and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base NASA considered a pilot’s strong record of flight experience to be very important Unlike early Soviet space capsules which were automated American spacecraft required experienced pilots at the controls in case of malfunctions Not having an experienced pilot would have meant death in more than one occasion on the Mercury Gemini and Apollo missions At a press conference on April 9 1959 NASA introduced the seven American men who were ready to go into space Scott Carpenter Gordon Cooper John Glenn Gus Grissom Walter Schirra Alan Shepard Jr and Deke Slayton With luck one of them would be the first man in space But before that could happen the Soviets launched Vostok 1 on April 12 1961 and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space Alan Shepard Jr followed less than a month later in Freedom 7 In the Space Race the Soviets were still winning In the early days of space travel one consideration in choos ing astronauts was weight Capsule weight astronaut weight payload weight each pound required more fuel and the fuel added weight as well Each pound to be launched required three pounds of propellant Some scientists speculated that more
4 INTRODUCTION could be done with a lighter load A woman astronaut would contribute less weight to the capsule and perhaps this was one contest the United States could win When the space program began women in the United States couldn’t get credit cards rent cars or obtain loans to buy houses You didn’t see female police officers or professional athletes When you turned on the television only male news casters delivered the nightly news In the late 1950s a woman often went from her parents home to a home with her husband Some stopped off at college along the way mainly women’s col leges or the few co-ed public colleges that existed Many private colleges didn’t admit women until the 1970s Princeton and Yale went co-ed in 1969 Dartmouth and Duke allowed women in 1972 Harvard waited until 1977 while Columbia held out until 1983 Today more than half of college students accepted in any program of higher education are women A small minority of women supported themselves some by performing traditionally male jobs Pilot Geraldyn Jerrie Cobb was an excellent professional pilot by the mid-1950s But whether she was demonstrating a new airplane or setting a world record she knew she had to look like a lady That meant wearing a dress heels and lipstick when she climbed into the cockpit When women were found who were capable of going into space the US government said no NASA was a men-only club with strong government ties The Soviets however said yes and put the first woman in space in 1963 Fifty years ago Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space Nineteen years later the Soviets would also put the second woman into space When the women’s movement hit the United States along with the Civil Rights Act which prohibited discrimination based on race or gende things started to change American
INTRODUCTION 5 Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center has provided operational support since the early days of American space flight NASA women were accepted even encouraged into the space pro gram Sally Ride became the first American woman astronaut thirty years ago A year later another woman went up then another and another As of 2012 55 women have been in space flying shuttles and commanding space stations Half of NASA’s astronaut class of 2013 were women Many women have been to space multiple times In 2012 the International Space Station had its second female commander These women of courage take on new challenges and adven tures They aren’t women astronauts Like the men who pre ceded them they are astronauts The program that opened up opportunities for astronauts the US space shuttle program ended in 2011 after thirty years
