| Becoming an astronaut today would certainly be a | | | | their Pensacola facilities for testing, as there wasn't |
| non-traditional career choice for a woman - but just | | | | an official NASA request for the training. There was |
| barely! The Department of Labor defines a | | | | still much resistance by members of NASA to |
| non-traditional field for a woman as one in which 25% | | | | women becoming part of the space program. |
| or less of those employed are female. Currently, | | | | Without the testing, they could not proceed into the |
| about 26% of NASA's astronaut corps are women. | | | | Mercury project. |
| Although most people in the United States probably | | | | Jerrie Cobb, along with many others on her behalf, |
| think of Sally Ride as the first woman in space, she | | | | have lobbied NASA to get Cobb onto a flight into |
| was actually preceded into space 20 years earlier by | | | | space, but efforts have so far been unsuccessful. |
| a female cosmonaut, the Russian Valentina | | | | When John Glenn flew back into space at the age of |
| Tereshkova, who became the first woman in space | | | | 77 in 1998, her hopes were renewed. She even |
| in 1963. And although Ride was the first American | | | | stated that she'd make the trip even "if I knew I |
| woman in space, the first American female astronaut | | | | wasn't coming back." |
| was Jerrie Cobb, in 1960. All three women took | | | | It wasn't until 1978 that NASA truly opened its doors |
| different paths on their journey to becoming an | | | | to women. This class marked the first year that |
| astronaut or cosmonaut. | | | | women were chosen to be astronauts. The 1978 |
| Valentina Tereshkova flew aboard Vostok 6. She | | | | was chosen specifically for the space shuttle, and six |
| was a textile mill worker, but also an expert amateur | | | | of the 35 were women, including Sally Ride. Sally Ride |
| parachutist. As there weren't many female pilots, her | | | | became the first American woman in space in 1983. |
| parachutist expertise got her recruited into the | | | | Dr. Sally Ride, an astrophysicist, flew on the |
| Russian space program. Tereshkova spent almost 3 | | | | Challenger STS-7 mission, as a mission specialist, thus |
| days in space and orbited the earth 48 times. This | | | | becoming the first American woman in space. She |
| was more time in space than the combined times of | | | | flew again on the Challenger a year later, on the first |
| all the American Mercury astronauts who had | | | | flight to include two women. On that flight her friend, |
| preceded her. | | | | Kathryn Sullivan, became the first woman to walk in |
| Although Tereshkova turned 70 in 2007, she said it | | | | space. |
| was still a dream of hers to fly to Mars - even on a | | | | The first female space shuttle pilot was Eileen Collins, |
| one way ticket! | | | | in 1995. She piloted another shuttle in 1997 and then |
| The U.S.A. could have had the first woman in space. | | | | made another historic first, becoming the first woman |
| The first female American astronaut, Jerrie Cobb, | | | | to command a space shuttle in 1999. This was such a |
| never got the opportunity to fly in space. Jerrie Cobb | | | | momentous occasion that it was announced by |
| earned her commercial pilot's license at age 18, but in | | | | President Clinton at a White House press conference. |
| 1949 the aviation jobs available to women were as | | | | The year 2007 brought other historic firsts. The |
| flight attendants, not pilots. So Cobb got a job at the | | | | second woman to command the space shuttle, Pam |
| Miami airport and consequently met Jack Ford, who | | | | Melroy, and the first woman to command the |
| had a business that ferried aircraft around the world. | | | | International Space Station, Peggy Whitson, marked |
| She convinced him to hire her, and thus flew all types | | | | the first time there were two women commanders |
| of aircraft around the world. This led to her invitation | | | | in space at the same time. |
| to the Lovelace Clinic to undergo the same testing | | | | A sign of progress for women in space is that this |
| the Mercury astronauts did, and in 1960 she passed | | | | 2007 event wasn't exceptionally remarkable. In an |
| the same physical and psychological tests as the | | | | October 2007 speech given by Michael Griffin, NASA |
| Mercury astronauts. | | | | Administrator, he remarked that "In my usual clueless |
| After she passed this testing, she then helped recruit | | | | fashion, I had failed to notice - until receiving a |
| 24 other women, twelve of whom also passed the | | | | question from a member of the media - that this is |
| tests and were chosen to undergo further testing at | | | | the first time we have had women commanding both |
| the Naval Aviation Center in Pensacola, Florida. These | | | | the Space Station and the Space Shuttle." |
| women became known as the FLATs - First Lady | | | | Times are changing, and opportunities for women to |
| Astronaut Trainees, or Mercury 13. | | | | play significant roles in our country's space program |
| Unfortunately for the women, many of whom had | | | | are increasing. This will not only be beneficial to the |
| quit their jobs in anticipation of this round of testing, | | | | space program, but also for encouraging girls and |
| they never got the opportunity to train as | | | | young women to pursue scientific and technical |
| astronauts. The Navy would not allow the use of | | | | careers, whether in the sky or on the ground. |