Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the Space Race

Margaret Conrad is Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Studies at
the University of New Brunswick. She is the author of Atlantic Canada: A
Region in the Making, and co-author of Intimate Relations: Family and
Community in Planter Nova Scotia, 1759–

It is surprising that this book, which chronicles the experience of the
13 women who were selected as potential astronauts for the Mercury space
program, was not published long ago. It is even more surprising that it
was written by a Canadian journalist. While it is true that the program
to train female astronauts was abruptly cancelled in 1961, the story is
an important one and has all the elements of high drama: a cast of
strong female characters, behind-the-scenes shenanigans to thwart the
women’s ambitions, and David-and-Goliath hearings before a House
Committee when the women protest their treatment.

Nolen hangs her narrative on the women’s life stories. Although it is
sometimes difficult to keep the details of their lives separate—so
many of them named Jackie, Jerri(e), and Jane(y)—together they
represent a fascinating slice of American womanhood. Included in the mix
are Jan and Marion, the flying Dietrich twins; Janey Briggs Hart, a
mother of eight children and wife of a U.S. senator; and prima donnas
Jerrie Cobb and Jackie Cochran. Having against all odds become highly
successful pilots in an era when flying was jealously guarded as a
man’s job, the women led interesting lives both before and after the
space episode that they shared.

According to the evidence gathered by Dr. Randy Lovelace, who
spearheaded the women-in-space project, the women were as good as the
men who were tested, but they were never seriously considered, even when
the Cold War competition made getting a woman into space among the
“firsts” being claimed. Nolen details the tensions between Cobb and
Cochran that complicated relationships with NASA, but she is clear that
those problems had little to do with the termination of the program. The
women stepped out of the boundaries drawn for them at a time when sexism
was systemic in the military-industrial complex that nurtured the U.S.
space program. Even at 40 years’ distance, the United States continues
to expunge the Mercury 13 from historical memory. Fortunately, the women
have found someone to tell their story and to tell it well.