Mercury Women a forgotten link to space program

The Armstrong Air and Space Museum held a Facebook Live event honoring the 60th anniversary of the Mercury 13 project Tuesday night with Marcy Frumker, who presented Mercury Women: Forgotten Link to the Future. Frumker is a space advisor and board member for the International Women's Air and Space Museum in Cleveland. Frumker first became involved with the museum after it moved its location to Cleveland in 1998, where she became a contributor to IWASM.

Frumker started her presentation talking about the IWASM, describing the mission of the museum as collecting, preserving and showcasing history and culture of women in all areas of aviation and space.

She then jumped into the history of the Mercury women, specifically because its been 60 years since initial testing for female astronauts began. And even though none of the 13 made it to space, it was their efforts that helped NASA accept women as astronauts.

She introduced Jerrie Cobb (a pilot who became the first woman to pass every test for the Mercury Women), Sally Ride (the first American woman in space in 1983), Pam

Melroy (one of the first female pilot astronauts at NASA) and Nicole Mann (a current NASA astronaut and the first woman scheduled to test fly the Boeing Starliner).

It wasn't until 1959 that women were even considered for space, as General Donald Flickinger and Dr. Randy Lovelace thought it more practical from an engineering standpoint (lower body weights and higher oxygen requirements) to send women to space.

"Flickinger started a Women in Space… program called WISE at the US Air Force Research Command," Frumker said. "Dr. Lovelace had already established a series of rigorous medical and physiological tests for the male astronaut

candidates."

The two had learned Russia was planning to send women into space despite no one having been there. So after meeting Cobb they asked her to be a test subject for WISE (Women in Space Earliest).

Unfortunately, before anything could begin the Air Force withdrew support and the program was canceled.

In 1998, after John Glenn volunteered to fly on a space mission to study as an older astronaut, a grassroots effort emerged to get Cobb, 67 at the time, in space. But while she had a large amount of support, she never got to fly.

So Flickinger asked Lovelace to take over the program at his private donation.

Frumker introduced Jackie Cochran, a NASA consultant who set records for speed, distance and altitude in the '30s.

After learning abut Flickinger and Lovelace's plan, she and her husband agreed to fund the testing.

Twenty-five women underwent the tests for the program, with 13 who did well enough to become known as the First Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLATS).

The 13 included Cobb, Wally Funk (has more than 13,000 flight hours, was a flight instructor, an FAA inspector, National Transportation Safety Board accident investigator and at only 21 at the time the youngest of the Mercury 13), Bernice Steadman (started a flight school and is a past president of IWASM), Irene Leverton (owned an aviation consulting company), Sarah Gorelick Ratley (flew in powderpuff races and was an electrical engineer), Jane Hart (the first licensed female helicopter pilot in Michigan), Jean Hixson (a flight instructor and teacher), Gene Stumbough Jessen (flight instructor, advisor to the FAA and an aviation writer), Jerri Sloan Truhill (flew B25s who helped develop radar), Rhea Woltman (executive pilot for an aircraft sales firm who flew in powderpuff races), twins Marion (aviation writer who flew charters and ferried aircrafts) and Jane (flight instructor, a pilot for a flight school and a corporate pilot) Dietrich and Myrtle Cagle (flight instructor and aviation writer).

All 13 were qualified pilots who had a high number of flight hours, were less than 5'11, in good health, less than 35 years-old (with some exceptions), held FAA instrument rating and medical certificates. All tests for the women were conducted by Lovelace without NASA involvement, and after they learned about additional testing NASA informed the Navy they weren't sanctioned and the tests were canceled.

But in 1962 congress issued a report saying the role of women in space would need more studying.

In 1963 Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, questioning cultural gender roles, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination based on race and gender.

In 1978 NASA accepted women to fly a new space shuttle, and Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Kathy Sullivan, Anna Fisher, Rhea Seddon and Shannon Lucid became the first class of female astronauts to fly a new space shuttle. According to Frumker, all six were either scientists, medical doctors or engineers.

She talked about Eileen Collins, the second woman to become a test pilot for the Air Force Flight School, and in 1990 she was the first female to train as a pilot astronaut in the space shuttle program. She was also the first female commander of a space shuttle, when, in 1999, she led STS-93

Susan Kilrain flew in two missions, and Pam Melroy served as a pilot on two shuttle flights before becoming a commander on STS-120 (making her the second female to command a space shuttle).

Peggy Whitson was the first female International Space Station commander in 2007 and has the honor of having the most time in space for anyone (male or female).

Karen Nyberg, who recently retired, flew on STS-124 and was a flight engineer on the space station for expeditions 36 and 37.

Sandy Magnus flew on STS-112 and served as flight engineer on Expedition 18 on the International Space Station in 2008-09. She was also a specialist on the last space shuttle flight, STS-135, in 2011.

Mae Jemison was the first Africanamerican woman in space on STS-47 in 1992.

Megan Mcarthur flew on the last mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009.

"She's set to launch in a little over a week, on April 22," Frumker said. "On a Spacex Dragon rocket to the International Space Station."

According to Frumker, there are 15 active female NASA astronauts out of a total of 46.

In October 2019 and January 2020 Christina Koch and Jessica Meir performed battery replacements on the International Space Station during Expedition 62.

Frumker ended the presentation by introducing potential female astronauts for the Artemis program. Artemis is trying to land the first woman and the next man on the moon.

Candidates include Stephanie Wilson. Kayla Barron, Jessica Watkins, Meir, Anne Mcclain, Jasmine Moghbeli, Kate Rubins, Mann and Christina Koch.

The Mercury 13 have also been portrayed in popular culture. Netflix currently has the Mercury 13 documentary, while Disney + has The Right Stuff and Apple TV+ has For All Mankind.