Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream

Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream.  Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA: 2008. 134 pages. Tr. $24.99 ISBN 9780763636111

Annotation

Tanya Lee Stone expertly tells the story of the Mercury 13 women who were the first women who dared to dream about going to space. 

Review

Almost Astronauts tells the story of the “Mercury 13” women who were chosen to undergo astronaut testing in order to study the possibility of sending women to space.  The Mercury 7 men were the first humans in outerspace.  NASA had no interest in sending women to space, but Dr. Randy Lovelace did.  Lovelace believed that women were just as capable as men, and being lighter weight would be cheaper to send into space, saving NASA almost a $1000 a pound.  Lovelace decided to run tests on female pilots to proved to NASA that women were just as capable of being astronauts as men.  Lovelace’s first subject was young pilot Jerrie Cobb.  Cobb completed all of the tests just as well as he male astronauts, but with fewer complaints.  But Cobb was only finished with phase one of the tests.  Phase two’s psychological tests included an isolation test in which Cobb would have to spend time in an isolation tank.  The isolation tank was filled with water and was completely void of light and sound.  Most subjects only lasted a few hours in the isolation and tank and many spoke to or sang to themselves while in the tank.  Cobb spent over 9 hours in the tank, hardly uttering a word, only checking in to report that she was okay every few hours.  No one had spent as long in the isolation tank as Cobb and none of the male astronauts’ isolation testing was as rigorous as Cobb’s.  The male astronauts were simply asked to spend 2 to 3 hours in a dark room equipped with a desk, pen, and paper.  Cobb underwent one final phase of testing at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Florida where she would undergo the same fitness tests as male astronauts.  Once again, Cobb excelled, passing all the tests.  12 more women followed in Cobb’s footsteps completing the entire phase one and two tests, but unfortunately the Naval School refused the use of their facilities for the other 12 subjects without an official request from NASA, which NASA refused to give.  Lovelace’s tests had come to a standstill, but the fight for women to become astronauts had not. 

Awards/Honors

ALA Notable Book 2010

Siebert Award 2012

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2010

YALSA Best Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist 2010

Front and Back Matter,

TOC, Foreword by Margaret A. Weitekamp, Author’s Note, Appendix, Further Reading, Webliography, Sources, Source Notes, Photography Credits, Index, Acknowledgments

Author’s Website

http://www.tanyastone.com/