In a contraption dubbed the Vomit Comet, she was spun head over heels and shaken side to side. She flew her fathers open cockpit Waco biplane at age 12 and got her private pilots licence four years later. Geraldyn Cobb was born on 5 March 1931 in Norman, Oklahoma, the second daughter of a military pilot and his wife. Greene, Nick. ", Some early feedback from the readings was skeptical. In 1995, Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a space shuttle, and NASA invited members of the Mercury 13 to watch the takeoff as Collins personal guests. Sleeping under the Cub's wing at night, she helped scrape together money for fuel to practice her flying by giving rides. In one test, the women each had to swallow three feet of rubber tubing. Jerrie Cobb Passed Astronaut Tests but NASA Kept Her Out of Space. In 1960, Jerrie Cobb was rapidly becoming a celebrity. Of additional note are publicity materials, letters of endorsement, letters to legislators and the White House requesting support, and the subsequent responses from NASA officials, all written during the time that Cobb advocated for her second opportunity to fly into space in the 1990s (Space II). NASA's Early Stand on Women Astronauts: "No Present Plans to Include From her first airplane ride in an open-cockpit Waco at age 12, Cobb dreamt of and subsequently built a career in aviation, no easy task for a woman of the 1950s. So he started testing female pilots at his clinic in New Mexico in 1960, subjecting them to the same tests . Please note that the Schlesinger Librarys manuscript collections cannot yet be requested directly from the finding aid. United States Information Agency/PhotoQuest/Getty Images. Save up to $15 with TurboTax coupon May 2023, Epic Bundle - 3x Expert Stock Recommendations, 15% Off DIY Online Tax Filing Services | H&R Block Coupon Code, 10% TopResume Discount Code for expert resume-writing services, Groupon Promo Code - 30% Off Activities, Dining, More. Senator Philip Hart of Michigan) campaigned in Washington to have the program continue. 'The Astronaut Wives Club': Space history vs. Hollywood in Episode 5 [21] Cobb believed that it was necessary to also send an aged woman on a space flight in order to determine whether the same effects witnessed on men would be witnessed on women. James Bond fans convinced THIS Game Of Thrones actor will become 007, Hardcore coronation fans already camped outside Buckingham Palace, One dead and seven injured in Cornwall nightclub knife attack, Coronation Street actress Barbara Young dies aged 92, Eurovision acts land in Liverpool ahead of Song Contest, Jeff Stelling leaving Sky Sports after 30 years with Soccer Saturday. In an effort to beat the Soviets to the moon, NASA began training astronauts. They found a freedom in flying; a way they could have total control.". At 22, she flew for an airplane delivery service and returned to Ponca City as a test pilot in 1955. The State of the States in Developmental Disabilities - David L. Braddock 2004 Cooking for Your Kids - Joshua David Stein 2021 Facing sex discrimination and the return of many qualified male pilots after World War II, she took on less-sought-after flying jobs, such as patrolling pipelines and crop dusting. At night, she slept in her hammock tied to her airplane, next to villagers hammocks or communal homes. NASA's 1st female astronaut candidate, Jerrie Cobb, dies - Phys.org Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Play Explores Ups, Downs and 'Remarkable' Life of 1st Female Astronaut (Image credit: NASA) Funding wasn't the problem, as the FLATs program. See Series I for additional photographs. The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who took part in a privately funded program run by William Randolph Lovelace II aiming to test and screen women for spaceflight.The participantsFirst Lady Astronaut Trainees (or FLATs) as Jerrie Cobb called themsuccessfully underwent the same physiological screening tests as had the astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959, for Project Mercury. She stored fuel at headwaters and flew hundreds of miles up tributaries to indigenous tribes. She was ready to fly, but never made it into space. At NASA, some men agreed. The women became known as the Mercury 13. Already a veteran pilot at age 29, she aced a battery of tests given to women eager to join the men already jostling for trips to space. Meet the Rogue Women Astronauts of the 1960s Who Never Flew She went on to earn her Multi-Engine, Instrument, Flight Instructor, and Ground Instructor ratings as well as her Airline Transport license. It didnt. The Mercury 13's story is told in a recent Netflix documentary and a play based on Cobb's life, They Promised Her the Moon,is currently running in San Diego. Jerrie Cobb: the "her" in They Promised Her the Moon But NASA already had its Mercury 7 astronauts, all jet test pilots and all military men. [14] Only a few months later, the Soviet Union would send the first woman into space,[4] Valentina Tereshkova. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/mercury-13-first-lady-astronaut-trainees-3073474. Geraldyn M. Cobb (March 5, 1931 March 18, 2019), commonly known as Jerrie Cobb, was an American aviator. American aviator and astronaut (19312019). San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive/Wikimedia Commons. She wrote: Yes, I wish I were on the moon with my fellow pilots, exploring another celestial body. Although she never flew in space, Cobb, along with twenty-four other women, underwent physical tests similar to those taken by the Mercury astronauts with the belief that she might become an astronaut trainee. How the 'Mercury 13' Led the Way for Women in the US Space Program - VOA Collection is open for research. She spent her career flying the Amazon jungle as a missionary pilot, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1981. In total, 68 percent of the lady astronauts passed, where only 56 percent of the male trainees passed. When Geraldyn M. Cobb was born on March 5, 1931 in Norman, Oklahoma, no one would have imagined the heights . Jerrie Cobb underwent 75 tests in all, and in the end, she scored in the top two percent of trainees outscoring several of the male Mercury astronauts. (1931 - 2019) Geraldyn M (Jerrie) Cobb. In the end, thirteen women passed the same physical examinations that the Lovelace Foundation had developed for NASAs astronaut selection process. But Cobb didnt find a receptive audience in Congress, either. "Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream". This is open inequality. Ultimately, 13 of these women surpassed every requirement in the first round of testing (some with better scores than the more famous "Mercury Seven"). The 13 included Jerrie Cobb, Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Irene Leverton, Myrtle "K" Cagle, Jane Hart, Jerri Truhill, Rhea Hurrle Woltman, Sarah Ratley, Bernice "B" Steadman, Jean . Still hopeful, Cobb emerged in 1998 to make another pitch for space as NASA prepared to launch Mercury astronaut John Glenn the first American to orbit the world on shuttle Discovery at age 77. Nick Greene is a software engineer for the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Engineering Center. Bettmann/Getty ImagesAn August 1960 photo of Jerrie Cobb identifies the lady space cadet by height, weight, and measurements. Dr. Randy Lovelace, a NASA scientist who had conducted the official Mercury program physicals, administered the tests at his private clinic without official NASA sanction. Because of other family and job commitments, not all of the women were asked to take these tests. [22] Many aviators and astronauts of the time believed this was a failed chance for NASA to right a wrong they had made years before. American pilot Jerrie Cobb hoped to be "the first Western woman in space," according to an interview she gave to CBC's Take 30 back in September 1963. We rely on the generous support of donors, sponsors, members, and other benefactors to share the history and impact of aviation and spaceflight, educate the public, and inspire future generations. In the meantime, once you have compiled a list of material you would like to consult, please contact Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute at, 5.17 linear feet ((5 file boxes, 1 folio+ box, 1 oversize box) plus 2 folio folders, 37 photograph folders, 2 folio photograph folders, 303 slides, 9 videotapes, 1 DVD), Humanitarian assistance--Amazon River Region, Space flight training facilities--United States, https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library, https://asklib.schlesinger.radcliffe.edu/index.php, Papers of Jerrie Cobb, 1931-2012 (inclusive), 1954-2005 (bulk), Majority of material found within 1954-2005, Series I. She and Jane Hart wrote to President John Kennedy and visited Vice President Lyndon Johnson. ", Being able to revise between productions is a unique strength of the mediumshe went through several drafts as she kept learning new historical details. Jerrie Cobb, a member of the Mercury 13, is seen testing in 1960 in NASA's Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility. One year later, Valentina Tereshkova, who had no experience prior to joining the Soviet space program except in sport parachuting, would become the first woman in space and return to a heros welcome. Likewise, Ollstein finds the historical setting helps people get past the usual detachment of reading about national politics in the news. Cobbs aviation years were bookends to her quest to be an astronaut. During her historic flight, she traveled 23,103 miles in just under 30 days. By 1960 she had 7,000 hours of flying time. Three days later, Jerrie Cobb took off from McCarran Field in Las Vegas in an Aero Commander.