Mercury 13

1960–61

"Mercury 13" is the popular name given to a group of thirteen women who were tested for Project Mercury astronaut training in 1960 and 1961. They passed the same seventy-five tests that were taken by their famous male counterparts, the Mercury 7 astronauts. The women never had a chance to fly in space, however, because the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. military were unwilling to accept women into their ranks. By the early twenty-first century, women had been regularly serving as astronauts for over twenty years. Historians have credited the Mercury 13, as well as the doctor and the brigadier general who initiated the women's testing program, as a pioneering event in the U.S. space program.

"They gave us a history."

Eileen Collins

Mercury 7 are heroes

In 1958 the United States established NASA, which integrated U.S. space research agencies and started an astronaut training program. The formation of NASA was a direct response to Sputnik 1, an artificial satellite (an object that orbits in space) that the former Soviet Union had launched

the previous year. This event sent shock waves through American society because at the time the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a political standoff known as the Cold War (1945–91). Not only were the two super-powers involved in an arms race for military superiority, but they were also competing for dominance in space. Sputnik 1 was a sign that the Soviet Union was winning the space race.

Determined to move ahead of the Soviets, NASA developed a manned space flight program with the goal of sending the first person into Earth orbit. According to the plan, the program would progress in three stages: Project Mercury, Project Gemini, and Project Apollo. Project Mercury developed the basic technology for manned space flight and investigated

a human's ability to survive and perform in space. Project Gemini provided astronauts with experience in returning to Earth from space as well as successfully linking space vehicles and "walking" in space. Integrating the information and experience gained from Mercury and Gemini, Project Apollo would land a person safely on the Moon.

NASA aggressively promoted Project Mercury, seeking a pool of applicants from whom a few would be selected to train as the first U.S. astronauts. NASA administrator T. Keith Glennan (1905–1995) convinced President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969; served 1953–61) that military jet test pilots would be the most qualified astronauts, so experience as a military pilot became the primary requirement. In April 1959, after applicants had been screened and tested, Glennan presented seven astronaut candidates—all males and all military test pilots—to the American public. Called the "Mercury 7" and immediately acclaimed as heroes, they were Malcolm Scott Carpenter (1925–), Leroy G. Cooper Jr. (1927–), John Glenn (1921–; see entry), Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom (1926–1967), Walter M. Schirra Jr. (1923–), Alan Shepard (1923–1998; see box in John Glenn entry), and Donald "Deke" K. Slayton (1924–1993).

Cobb leads the way

The Mercury 7 had undergone extensive medical testing at the Lovelace Foundation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The medical testing program, which involved three phases, was designed by Dr. W. Randolph Lovelace II (1929–), chair of the NASA Life Sciences Committee, and Brigadier General Donald Flickinger (1907–1997) of the U.S. Air Force. When the Mercury 7 were selected, Lovelace and Flickinger had for some time been interested in testing women as astronauts. The main reason was that women generally weigh less than men. Women's lighter body weight could offer several advantages in space, such as reducing the load in the capsule, increasing the booster power of the rocket that propels the capsule, and decreasing the amount of food and oxygen required during a flight. Lovelace and Flickinger were also intrigued by the possibility that women could match men in physical stamina and endurance. In addition, the Soviet Union was rumored to be training women cosmonauts (astronauts), so the doctor and the general were keenly aware that the United States must not lag behind the Soviets again in the space race.

Lovelace and Flickinger initiated a secret search for women they could test for the astronaut program. In late 1959 they met their ideal applicant: Oklahoma native Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb (1931–). An experienced pilot, Cobb had already set three world records for distance and speed in a twin-engine Aero Commander plane. She was the first woman test pilot hired by the manufacturer of the Commander, and she had flown a variety of aircraft, including crop dusters, gliders, blimps, and B-17s. Lovelace and Flickinger were impressed with Cobb's credentials, so they asked her to report to the Lovelace Clinic for the first phase of NASA astronaut qualification tests. By the time Cobb arrived at the clinic in early 1960, she had logged ten thousand flight hours, more than twice the number accumulated by some of the Mercury 7 astronauts. Cobb underwent the same seventy-five tests that had been administered to male candidates. The tests evaluated heart rate; lung capacity; loneliness level; pain level; noise tolerance; sensory deprivation; and spinning, tilting, and dropping into water tanks to measure resistance to vertigo (a state of extreme dizziness). Placing in the top 2 percent of all applicants, Cobb proceeded to phase two testing at the Naval School of Aviation at Pensacola, Florida.

In the meantime, the Lovelace Clinic had recruited twenty-five other women for testing. The criteria included being in good health, having a college education, and logging a significant number of flying hours. In 1961, after undergoing the first phase of testing, twelve of the women met NASA qualifications. Like Cobb, they were all licensed pilots. They had varying degrees of flying experience, and many had logged more flying hours than had the Mercury 7 astronauts. Ranging in age from twenty-one to forty, a few were married but most were single at the time. Many of the women never met one another. The testing program had not been revealed to the public, so the women signed a pledge that they would keep it secret.

The Mercury 13

In addition to Cobb, the women who became known as the Mercury 13 were Myrtle "K" Cagle (1922–), Jan Dietrich (1924–), Marion Dietrich (1924–1974), Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk (1938–), Jane (Janey) Briggs Hart (1920–), Jean Hixson (1921–1962), Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen (1934–), Irene Leverton (1924–), Sarah Lee Gorelick Ratley (1931–), Bernice "B" Steadman (1923–), Jerri Sloan Truhill (1928–), and Rhea Allison Woltman (1928–).

Myrtle Cagle, age thirty-six, was a flight instructor in Macon, Georgia. Having flown a variety of airplanes since she was twelve, she had logged 4,300 hours of flying time. Jan and Marion Dietrich were thirty-four-year-old identical twins who had degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. After graduation Jan became a flight instructor and commercial pilot, logging eight thousand flight hours by 1961. Marion was a reporter and writer for a newspaper in Oakland, California, and she pursued flying in her spare time. When she came to the Loveland Clinic she had logged 1,500 flight hours.

The youngest member of the training group was Wally Funk. Age twenty-one, she was a civilian flight instructor at Fort Sill, a military base in Oklahoma. She placed second, after Cobb, in the phase-one tests. Janey Hart, at age forty, was the oldest—and the mother of eight children. The first licensed female pilot in the state of Michigan, she was married to Phil Hart (1912–1976), a U.S. senator from Michigan. The most experienced member of the group was Jean Hixson, age thirty-seven. She had served in the WASP (the women's branch of the Army Air Force) during World War II. After the war she worked as a flight instructor, earned a college degree, and became a school teacher in Ohio.

Gene Nora (pronounced Janora) Stumbough Jessen was serving on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma when she entered the Lovelace program. Although she passed the phase-one tests at age twenty-four, she was not aware at the time that she had qualified for astronaut training. She quit her job to take the phase-two tests in 1962, but the program was discontinued a few days later. Irene Leverton, a thirty-four-year-old flight instructor from the University of Oklahoma, held a commercial pilot's license. She had logged more than nine thousand flight hours when she arrived at Lovelace. Kansas City native Sarah Ratley, who was twenty-eight, had a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Working as an electrical engineer at AT&T, she held a commercial pilot's license and had won women's air races such as the Powder Puff Derby and the International Air Race.

Jerri Sloan Truhill, who began taking flying lessons as a teenager, was an experienced pilot when she entered the Lovelace program at age thirty-two. In partnership with Joe Truhill (whom she later married), she tested Terrain Following Radar (TFR) and "smart bombs" for Texas Instruments, a company based in Dallas, Texas. Rhea Allison Woltman was a professional pilot with licenses to fly a variety of aircraft. She had also towed gliders for cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, where she was a flight instructor.

Two Would-be "Astronettes"

Mercury 13 members Jerrie Cobb and Janey Hart actively protested against NASA's cancellation of the women's astronaut testing program. In 1962, when they realized that NASA was not going to change its position, they met with Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973; served as vice president 1961–63) and asked him to intervene on their behalf. Johnson had been a major force in establishing the space agency, so his word would carry considerable weight. In the following excerpt from her book The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight, writer Martha Ackmann describes the end of the meeting, when the vice president dismisses Cobb and Hart.

Many minority groups were asking for attention from NASA, the Vice President [told Cobb and Hart]. They want to be astronauts, too. If the United States allowed women in space, then blacks, Mexicans, Chinese, and other minorities would want to fly too…. Leaning toward the women with a pained expression on his face, Lyndon Johnson looked directly at Cobb and Hart and gave them his final thought. As much as he would like to help the cause of women astronauts, it was really an issue for [NASA administrator] James Webb (1906–1992) and those at NASA. It hurt him to have to say it because he was eager to help, but the question was not his to address. Johnson called an end to the meeting and started talking on his private phone.

Hart and Cobb left Johnson's chambers and met with a crowd of reporters outside in the Capitol hallway. Hart stood with her arms tightly folded across her chest, her pocketbook stuffed into the crook of her arm. Her goal at this point seemed to be to mind her manners and hold her temper in

check. Cobb leaned near the wall, her face set rigidly in a practiced smile. "I'm hoping that something will come of these meetings," she politely said as reporters scribbled into their notebooks. Later, newspaper reporters declared that two would-be "astronettes" had pleaded their case in Washington. The vice president—using the current jargon from Cape Canaveral [the NASA launch site in Florida]—had said the women were "A-OK" but the decision was not his to make.

Ironically, people from all of the groups mentioned by Johnson—women, blacks, Mexicans, and Chinese—eventually became U.S. astronauts (see separate entries): Sally Ride (1951–) was the first American woman; Guy Bluford (1946–) was the first African American male, and Mae Jemison (1956–) was the first African American woman; Ellen Ochoa (1958–) was the first Hispanic woman, and Franklin Chang-Díaz (1950–) is of Chinese-Hispanic descent.

Women's program canceled

Cobb, Funk, and Woltman passed phase-two testing. Cobb and Funk completed phase three, which means that they achieved equal status with their male counterparts, the Mercury 7. Yet they were never accepted into the astronaut corps, and they never flew in space. In July 1961, while Cobb and Funk were waiting for the next stage of training, NASA canceled the women's testing program. No explanation was given. Many people protested NASA's decision and pressured the U.S. Congress to hold hearings on discrimination against women in the space program. A Congressional subcommittee reviewed the matter and asked NASA for clarification of its policies. NASA officials responded by saying that the women trainees were ineligible to become astronauts because they had not gone through the military jet-pilot training program at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Since women were not allowed to train as military pilots at the time, historians note that NASA was simply making an excuse. The truth was that male military officers, both in the armed forces and at NASA, did not want women to fly in space.

In April 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934–1968; see entry) became the first man in space, setting this record one month before Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard made a successful flight into space. Then in 1963, the year after NASA canceled the women's astronaut testing program, the Soviet Union scored yet another victory in the space race: Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (1937–; see entry) became the first woman to travel in orbit. No American woman was given a chance to accomplish this feat until 1983, when Sally Ride (1951–; see entry) flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger. (A space shuttle is a craft that transports people and cargo between Earth and space.)

The Mercury 13 returned to active private lives, remaining in the aviation field as commercial pilots, flight instructors, owners of aviation-related businesses, air race competitors, and flying hobbyists. In 1995 ten of the Mercury thirteen members, some meeting for the first time, gathered at Cape Canaveral, Florida. They were there to witness the launch of Eileen Collins (1956–), the first American woman pilot astronaut to travel in space. Before entering the space shuttle Discovery, Collins paid tribute to the Mercury 13 pioneers, saying, "They gave us [women astronauts] a history."

Although most of the Mercury 13 were disappointed about NASA's decision to cancel the testing program, they did not make any further efforts to pursue a career in spaceflight. Jerrie Cobb and Wally Funk were the exceptions: Hoping to fly in space one day, both stayed physically fit and were still flying airplanes as they approached the age of seventy. In 1998, when Mercury 7 hero John Glenn took his second flight at age seventy-six, Cobb and her supporters started a movement to pressure NASA to give her a mission in space. Once again, NASA ignored her. In 2001 Funk signed a contract with a civilian space launch company, Interorbital Systems, to take a suborbital flight. Her trip had been delayed several times by 2004, but she remained optimistic about finally traveling in space.

For More Information

Books

Ackmann, Martha. The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight. New York: Random House, 2003.

Cobb, Jerrie. Jerrie Cobb, Solo Pilot. Sun City, FL: Jerrie Cobb Foundation, 1997.

Nolen, Stephanie. Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the Space Race. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003.

Periodicals

"'Mercury 13' Project Helped Pave Way for Female Astronauts." Government CustomWire (April 8, 2004).

"Star Struck." Weekly Reader—Senior (April 2, 2004): pp. 2–3.

"Stars in Their Eyes." People (July 7, 2003): pp. 111–14.

Web Sites

Burbank, Sam. "Mercury 13's Wally Funk Fights for Her Place in Space." National Geographic.com.http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0709_030709_tvspacewoman.html (accessed on June 29, 2004).

DeFrange, Ann. "State-Born Aviatrix Yearns for Space. 2nd Astronaut Bid Supported." The Sunday Oklahoman (May 17, 1998): pp. 1–2. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/ñswokla/family/jerricobb.html (accessed on June 29, 2004).

Funk, Wally. "The Mercury 13 Story." The Ninety-Nines, Inc.www.ninetynines.org/mercury.html (accessed on June 29, 2004).

"Mercury 13—The Women of the Mercury Era." http://www.mercury13.com/ (accessed May 22, 2004).