Guinea Pigs, Grounded Pilots: The Thirteen Women Who Wanted to Touch the Stars

摘要

On October 4,1957, Russia launched the first manmade satellite into orbit, sparking international intrigue and fear, and leading the world into the Space Age. By 1959, the year-old National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was honing its own rocketry skills and had assembled a corps of astronauts who would help America catch up to, and hopefully surpass, Russian astronautics. The list of candidates was whittled down from over 80 test pilots to just seven. They were all men. But there were also women who wanted the chance to reach the heavens, same as their male counterparts. Over the last few years, historians have begun to tell the stories of these amazing women; this is a short version of that tale.