On the Shoulders of Giants to the Stars

At the beginning of the space race, there was a motion to put man in space fastest. No grammar did not matter the only thing that did matter was beating the Russians, except when it came to putting a woman in space. Russia beat us by almost 20 years by sending Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. It was not because we did not have competent women ready to go to space, in fact, there were thirteen of them and they were called the Mercury Thirteen, but because at the time women were still seen as belonging in the kitchen.

So how did thirteen women prove that they were qualified enough to be astronauts when they faced so many barriers in the aviation world and in the workforce? Well, that had to do with a special and curious man named William Randolph Lovelace II. Lovelace was a former flight surgeon and later, chairman of the NASA Special Advisory Committee on Life Science helped develop the physical and psychological tests for NASA's male astronauts and became curious to know how women would do taking the same tests. In 1960, Lovelace invited the first of the Mercury 13 to his clinic for the first round of tests that he funded with his own money. Overall twenty-five women were invited to participate in the tests and of these thirteen made it past phase one of testing. Since these tests were all privately funded all of it was done out of the public eye and the participants themselves did not meet each other till after the program ended.

The first time the names of the thirteen women were mentioned in public was an article in Life Magazine after Valentina Tereshkova. This article criticized NASA and American Decision-makers for not sending a woman into space first especially when we had qualified ones ready to go. On July 17, 1962, there was a hearing set in place to hear the testimonies from two of the Mercury Thirteen participants. Their testimonies make inquiries about the discrimination among women and that their talents should not be prejudged or disqualified due to the fact that they are not men. However, Astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter testified stating that women should have jet flight time, something that women were barred from getting at that time. In order to get jet flight time, women would have to be allowed to enter into air force training schools. In addition, they would have to receive waivers for the education requirement for becoming an astronaut.

So who were the accomplished women of the Mercury Thirteen who had a chance at becoming America’s first female astronaut?

The first female aviatrix invited to the Lovelace Clinic was none other the Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb. Jerrie Cobb took her first flight at age 12, got her private pilot’s license at age 17 and her commercial pilot’s rating at 18. Jerrie was determined to make a career out of being a pilot rather than the female dictated occupations of the aviation industry. This led her to go to Miami, Florida taking a dangerous job ferrying aircraft worldwide.

In 1960, Jerrie was the first woman invited to be apart of the testing at Lovelace Clinic. She did so well in the test that she also assisted in selecting and recruiting the other applicants. Jerrie played a crucial role in trying to get a US woman into space. NASA hired Jerrie on as a consultant but after not being able to have an impact on anything Jerrie left and went back to flight.

After NASA, Jerrie worked as a missionary pilot in the Amazon Jungles. Her work also nominated her for a peace prize. She also set numerous records in flight that is listed below.

National Aviation Hall of Fame (2012)

Amelia Earhart Gold Medal of Achievement

Named Woman of the Year in Aviation

Amelia Earhart Memorial Award

Named Pilot of the Year by the National Pilots Association

Fourth American to be awarded Gold Wings of the Federacion Aeronautique International, Paris, France

Named Captain of Achievement by International Academy of Achievement

Served 5 years as a Consultant to the Federal Aviation Administration

Selected by the Mercury Astronaut Selection Team to be the first, and only, woman to undergo and successfully pass all 3 phases of Mercury astronaut tests (1960)

Honored by the government of Ecuador for pioneering new air routes over the Andes Mountains and Andes jungle

Awarded the Harmon International Trophy for "The Worlds Best Woman Pilot" by President Nixon at a White House ceremony

Inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame as "the Most Outstanding Aviatrix in the US

Received Pioneer Woman Award for her "courageous frontier spirit" flying all over the Amazon jungle serving primitive Indian tribes

Bea Steadman was a veteran air racer when she was invited to the Lovelace Clinic. In addition to that, she was an elected president of the prestigious women’s flying group the International Ninety Nine which was created by Amelia Earhart and other women aviation pioneers. She won the Transcontinental Air Race and the International Air Race. She also organized the Michigan SMALL Race.

Early in her career, Bea was one of the first women to get an Airline Transport Rating and she taught about 200 men that would go on to become airline pilots even though the airline industry would not hire women.

After Mercury 13 Bea went on to Cofound the International Women’s Air and Space Museum in Cleveland.

Jane Briggs Hart who at the time, greatest accomplishment would have been marrying a senator. However, due to her outspoken views when she was supposed to be ornamental made her husband’s life challenge. She was a founding member of the National Organization for Women and had 8 kids. She spent a lot of time protesting and competing in boat races and flying. In the late 1950s, Jane became the first woman in Michigan to get a helicopters license. She even flew her husband to his campaign stops by helicopter. Hart was one of the women asked to testify before Congress on behalf of the Mercury 13. She was outspoken and used her voice to actively push for what she believed in even if that means she got arrested at a protest.

Geraldine "Jerri" Sloan Truhill was first exposed to flying at the age of four when she sat in the cockpit of a plane that her father flew to a business meeting in Texas. At the age of 15, Jerri started taking pilot lessons behind her parents back because being a pilot was a man’s job. She got caught and her parents sent her to Catholic School. That did not stop her though and she went on to become an air racer before being selected to go to the Lovelace Clinic.

After Lovelace, Jerri T. also served as Vice President for two companies: Air Freighters International and Air Services, Inc. Air Freighters International flew freight into South America and brought back the finished products, with a fleet of 12 DC 6s and 4 YS-11s. Air Services, Inc. was a test pilot and plane company that did all the flight testing for Texas Instruments.

Rhea Woltman by herself flew a Piper Super Cub on floats from Houston, Texas to Lake Hood in Anchorage, Alaska. She also used to tow gliders for the cadets at the Air Force Academy and has flown in the International Women’s Air Race. Rhea is also one of a few professional registered Parliamentarians in the country and is in high demand.

Sarah Ratley was working for AT&T as an Electrical Engineer when she got was asked to go for testing. She was educationally qualified to be an astronaut with a B.S. in Mathematics and Minors in Physics and Chemistry. She also held a Commercial Pilots license, with Airplane Single and Multi-Engine Land ratings, Single Engine Sea, Instrument, Rotor and Glider ratings. Sarah participated in all six Women Transcontinental Air Races and the International Women’s Air Race.

After testing, she became an accountant and works for the IRS.

Jan and Marion Dietrich are identical twins but their paths to Lovelace are not. They graduated together from the University of California Berkley in 1949.

Jan became a flight instructor and chief pilot for a flight school as well as a corporate pilot for a construction company in California. In 1961 she had amassed 8,000 hours of flight time and she became one of the first women in the US to obtain an Airline Transport Pilot License, the highest FAA rating

Marion's path took her to the Oakland (Ca.) Tribune as a writer and reporter. Her love for flying led her to as many aviation-related stories as possible, including a ride in a supersonic jet. She kept flying in her own time by flying charters and ferrying aircraft. This allowed her to build up over 1,500 hours flying time before being called to Lovelace.

Myrtle Cage was a flight instructor in Macon Georgia and had almost 4,300 hours of flight time. She held a Commercial Pilots license, with Airplane Single and Multi-Engine Land ratings, an Instrument rating and was a Certified Flight Instructor, Certified Flight Instrument Instructor and Certified Ground Instructor. She also holds an A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) license, making her a certified aviation mechanic as well and a licensed nurse.

Myrtle learned to fly by age 12 and because of that she was allowed to join the aeronautics class at her school. Then her professor got drafted and Myrtle stepped up and finished the year as a teacher

Irene Leverton attempted to join the WASP when she was 17 by using a fake logbook and an older friends birth certificate. That did not work out, but by the time she got the call to go to the Lovelace Clinic she had more than 9,000 hours of flight time more than an Mercury 7 Astronaut. Her most daring adventure was also almost a catastrophic mishap. In 1965 Irene attempted to cross the Pacific when she had an electrical fire, 7 hours and 30 minutes into the flight. With all radio and navigation equipment out she turned around and landed back in San Francisco 7 hours and 15 minutes later.

Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen heard about the program while serving as faculty at the University of Oklahoma. She wrote to Dr Lovelace outlining her qualifications and was accepted into the program. She quit her job as a teacher to start phase two of testing but the program was cancelled shortly after. In 1962, Gene Nora took a job as a sales demonstration pilot for the Beechcraft factory in Wichita, Kansas. In the beginning, as one of the Three Musketeers, an introductory formation flew through the contiguous forty-eight States over a ninety day period. She also was president of the Ninety-Nines and participated in the founding of two aviation museums.

Jean Hixson was a WASP in World War 2 and flew everything the Army Air Force Flew had in inventory. They also towed targets for live gunnery practice, ferried aircraft domestically and overseas, they instructed, you name it they did it. Everything but combat.

Jean flew the B-25 twin-engine bomber as an Engineering Test Pilot and took an advanced instrument course during her time with the WASP. After World War 2, she was a flight instructor and got a degree in elementary and secondary education. In 1952 she was a teacher taking her kids on field trips to NASA’s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland.

After Mercury 13, Jean worked at the Flight Simulator Techniques Branch of the US Air Force Reserve in Dayton, Ohio. In 1982, she retired as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserves and chaired a WASPs reunion.

Wally Funk was the youngest member of Mercury 13. Wally went to Oklahoma State University to study education so she could be on the Aviation team known as the Flying Aggies. There she received the "Outstanding Female Pilot" trophy, the "Flying Aggie Top Pilot" and the "Alfred Alder Memorial Trophy" two years in succession. Wally was a flight instructor at Fort Still, Oklahoma training member of the US.

In 1974 Wally was hired by the National Transportation Safety Board as the first female air safety investigator. After 11 years she went on to become a FAA Safety Counselor. In 2012 Wally Funk paid for a ticket on Virgin Galactic Spaceship 2.

It was the determination of the Mercury 13 that led Sally Ride, Mae Jemison and Eileen Collins to go to space. Eileen Collins invited the surviving 7 Mercury 13 astronauts to her launch as commander of the space shuttle.. It was at this launch, that the first official gathering of the Mercury 13 was held.