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What Happened to the Mercury 13? (June 20, 2003, Two)

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Program Summary

We all know Alan Shepard, the first American to go into space. And John Glenn was the first to orbit the earth. They were members of the Mercury Seven, the first American astronauts. While they may have had the right stuff, there were 13 others who trained for space flight and passed the same rigorous tests as the lucky Seven. They, it seems, didn’t have the “right” stuff—a Y chromosome.

They were the Mercury 13, all experienced women pilots who passed muster but were grounded by discrimination back in 1961. We may not know Jerrie Cobb, but she was an expert pilot with 5,000 more flying hours under her seatbelt than Glenn. She also held flight records in speed, distance, and altitude. Wally Funk was already a flight instructor by the time she joined the 13. She finished third among all the women who took the tests. Dr. Randy Lovelace, the physician in charge of selecting the astronauts, believed that women might be better suited to space travel than men. For one thing they were smaller and lighter, taking up less precious space in the craft, and using less oxygen. Women are more tolerant of pain, better able to deal with isolation, and not as susceptible to radiation. His ideas were proven correct when out of 25 female candidates, the Mercury 13 passed all of the tests, even surpassing the men in some cases.

Then they encountered what guest Stephanie Nolen calls “classic discrimination.” Even President Lyndon Johnson weighed in to say that there was no way the U.S. would be sending women into space. The qualifying rules for becoming an astronaut were quickly amended. A new requirement that astronauts had to have been military jet test pilots made it impossible for women to qualify, as only men were allowed in those ranks at the time.

In the meantime, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963. Twenty years later, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.

Guests

Margaret Rhea Seddon, M.D., former NASA astronaut and assistant chief medical officer for the Vanderbilt Medical Group in Nashville, Tennessee

Stephanie Nolen, author of "Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the Space Race," and foreign affairs reporter for the “Globe and Mail” in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Related Links and Resources

“January” magazine’s “Fly Me to the Moon”
NPR’s “All Things Considered,” June 17, 2003: “The Mercury 13: Training U.S. Women for Space”
Women of NASA

For Discussion:

• Why do you think the Mercury 13 weren’t allowed to become astronauts?
• Do you think women and men can do the same jobs equally well? Are there some jobs that men or women are better at?
• What changed between 1961 and 1983 that made it possible for Sally Ride and other women to finally go into space?
• John Glenn not only went into space on the Mercury 6 in 1962, but he also got to fly aboard the space shuttle at the age of 77. Jerrie Cobb and other Mercury 13 members are willing to do the same thing. Do you think they should have the chance?

Activities

The right stuff. The Mercury 13 may not have reached space, but the women who made the cut were top-notch pilots and fascinating people. Divide students into groups and have each research the backgrounds and accomplishments of a Mercury 13 astronaut: Myrtle Cagle, Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb, Jan and Marion Dietrich (twin sisters), Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk, Jane Briggs Hart, Jean Hixson, Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen, Irene Leverton, Sarah Lee Gorelick Ratley, Bernice "Bea" Trimble Steadman, Geraldine "Jerri" Sloan Truhill, or Rhea Hurrle Allison Woltman. A review of Stephanie Nolen’s book is a good starting point [Link updated August 6, 2007]. A ThinkQuest page on the Mercury Program gives an idea of the types of testing the astronauts had to endure. Students can compare the qualifications and backgrounds of the 13 with the Mercury Seven. These womens’ accomplishments didn’t stop in 1961, so be sure to encourage students to follow their subjects to the present. Some of them are still working to get to space!

Women with wings. The Mercury 13 broke into the astronaut corps, but other pioneering women aviators broke the flight barrier. At the ThinkQuest site Women in Aviation, students can view a timeline showing the history of women fliers beginning with balloonist Elisabeth Thible in 1784. Other notables include Baronness Raymonde de Laroche of France, who became the first licensed woman pilot in the world; Bessie Coleman, the first black woman pilot; Beryl Markham, who completed a difficult solo trans-Atlantic crossing; and Jackie Cochran, who directed the women pilots of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. Ask students to find out about world events going on at the time these women were forging new paths in the sky. Did world events help or hinder their progress?

Higher, faster, farther. At Ideas for Integrating Women of NASA into Your Curriculum, you’ll see many ways to fit the activities into your teaching. In the activity Occupations Chat Lesson, students can fill out self-evaluation tests and prepare questions to ask a NASA employee during special chat sessions. Women’s Work contains activities that explore ideas of women’s roles in life and work over the past century. Other activities allow students to investigate the importance of life skills in attaining career goals, to design a mission patch, even to try running an astronaut-style obstacle course.

Testing bias. Do people think of certain jobs as a man’s job or woman’s work? Studies show that people tend to associate jobs in the sciences with men and liberal arts fields such as writing with women. And there’s a test—the Gender Implicit Association Test—to prove it. The test asks participants to sort words into categories as quickly as possible. Responses are scored and may reveal bias. After students take the test, they can compare their results and compile charts to illustrate them. How do the results of boys compare to girls? Ask students to discuss their findings and why any bias might exist.

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

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