Original subtitles

[woman] Most harmful behavior is based in fear.

Protecting one’s perceived position in society…

protecting one’s territory, or one’s physical well-being.

But progress is inevitable.

[man on radio] This is Apollo Control. The situation is go for landing.

Repeat again, we are go for landing.

[woman #2] There was, at that time, a lot of prejudice.

Women astronauts. What a ridiculous idea.

[woman on radio] Roger. You’re five by, Jim. We’re sailing free.

Okay, Jim. How do you read? Over.

[Jim] I read you loud and clear. You sound beautiful.

[woman #3] I think we all know why it didn’t happen.

[woman on radio] Okay. 300 feet.

Fifteen down.

Take over, Sarah.

[woman #4] It was a good old boy network.

And there was no such thing as a “good old girl” network.

[woman on radio] Okay. Fuel is at ten percent.

[woman #5] I guess we did it so well, they didn’t like that. [chuckles] So…

[woman on radio] Here comes the shadow.

Perfect place over here. I see a couple of big boulders, not too bad.

[woman #6] I still didn’t tell people that I wanted to be an astronaut.

I was just gonna do it.

[woman on radio] You’re leveled off. Let her on down.

Okay. Seven, six percent. Pretty fast.

Contact. Stop!

[scattered applause]

[woman #7] Someone has to start the fight to change the opinion.

Someone has to lead the way.

[woman on radio] That’s one small leap for a woman…

another giant step for mankind.

Surprise!

[both laughing]

- How we doing? - Great.

Good to see you.

- Hi, honey. How are you? - Good.

- Good to see you, sweetheart. - Thank you. Nice to see you.

- What kind of airplane do you usually fly? - Usually a 172.

Although the last time, I was flying in a Cherokee.

So it doesn’t really matter. I’m used to a Piper from the days of my three Comanches.

- You’re the Comanche girl. I remember. - Yeah. Low-wing Comanches.

I’ve been very lucky, and I’ve been able to fly some Stearmans about once a month.

- Oh, good. - That’s great.

That’s the airplane that I owned when I was 20 years old out in California.

I was a very, very curious kid.

My first ride in an airplane was at nine years of age.

And it was wonderful. The freedom, the smell of the exhaust,

the air going over my hair.

It was me. It was part of me.

I had those wings on too.

[woman] I grew up in Minnesota.

Every day, I’d see this airplane flying overhead,

and I thought, “I could do that too.”

My parents didn’t like that idea.

People didn’t think it was for women at all, flying.

But I knew better, and I liked it and I did it.

[woman] I think your first solo is,

in all your flying experiences, you feel is your greatest accomplishment.

It was the thrill of going up and being free up there.

And you’d look down and you could get a proper perspective.

I always was very positive

about always willing to learn something new and have a new adventure.

[man] There was a barnstormer coming into Flint,

and they were advertising rides.

B said that, from the moment she got in that plane and took off and looked down,

she said, “This is it. This is what I’m meant for.”

[man] This is Janey’s official wedding picture.

My mother was a very well-off child

who took advantage of that to pursue the dreams that she always held.

Seventeen. You’re right.

My first experience of flight, um, was when I was very young.

Mother was the pilot.

And off we go, into the sky.

And Mother’s very delighted to just show her little girl

this is what you could do.

So we’re going higher and higher and higher

and closer and closer to the clouds.

I’m becoming a bit alarmed

because, in my mind, these clouds are solid

and we’re going to crash into them, and my mother is going to kill us.

As we get closer and closer, I said,

“Why are we going so close to the clouds? We’re gonna hit them.”

And she just... She truly laughed and said, you know, “Watch this.”

And away we went, through and over the clouds.

Quite wonderful.

[woman] I still, as I lift off,

very often think, “Why me, God?"

[radio chatter]

"Why did I get to do this?”

I don’t think I needed a lot of encouragement.

I was raring to go. I just, I really loved flying.

There was always a certain amount of prejudice

about women getting into the men’s fields.

But there were stories of women making breakthroughs in aviation.

So I knew it was possible.

[fanfare]

[woman] She’s out to break the women’s speed record: Jacqueline Cochran.

Takeoff at Detroit for the girl who now ranks as first lady of the sky.

Women are progressing rapidly.

The women’s record, made by a ladybird of France,

was 276 miles an hour.

Jacqueline flies 17 miles an hour faster than that.

She lands, and I wonder how she looks

after flying more than 293 miles an hour.

That’s fast enough to disarrange one’s hair.

Sure enough…

No, I never met Jackie Cochran. But I can tell you a Jackie Cochran story.

I was flying into Cincinnati,

and the tower gave me landing instructions.

And then I heard a woman’s voice.

She was flying a Lockheed Lodestar.

And I thought, “My word, what female pilot flies that big old Lockheed?”

The tower called her, and they said,

“Lockheed, you are lined up on the wrong runway.”

And she said,

“I’ll land on any goddamn runway I please.”

And of course I thought,

“Wow, I didn’t know you could say that on the radio.”

[man] We didn’t really need a reason to invite Jacqueline Cochran to the program.

Our guest is probably the most distinguished woman pilot

in the world today.

It seems that you soloed at Roosevelt Field back in 1932.

- [Cochran] That is correct. And... - [man] Came in for a dead-stick landing.

[Cochran] Right. And it was 48 hours after I’d seen my first airplane on the ground.

[man] How many hours of instruction had you had when you...

[Cochran] Five hours and five minutes.

[man] But you’ve also done very well in the cosmetics business.

[Cochran] I did very well.

[man] ’Course it helped to be married to a millionaire, you admit that?

[Cochran] I was doing pretty well before I got married.

Jacqueline Cochran was an extraordinary gal.

She, uh... She was raised in poverty in the South.

She had formed her own company.

She met Floyd Odlum, who was,

prior to the war, he was the highest-paid CEO in the United States.

[Ratley] Jackie was very much of an individualist.

First woman to do this, first woman to do that.

And Jackie wanted to be a trailblazer.

- [fanfare] - [man] Women with wings.

At Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas,

famous flyer Jacqueline Cochran gives her ferry pilot students

a last-minute inspection.

Then it’s off by plane for graduation ceremonies.

“Good-bye, Daughter. I’m working for the army now.”

[Jessen] Jackie Cochran headed up the WASP program during World War II,

the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, who flew all the airplanes.

That was the first time that happened.

They flew all the military airplanes, but they didn’t go to war.

What they did is that they provided ferrying capability.

They would pick up the aircraft from the factories

and fly them to a point where they would be turned over.

And these women flew these planes

with the same training, or less, that the men had,

and they had the same safety record.

So they proved they could fly those aircraft.

[man] Nobody should ever tell a WASP that flying’s not a woman’s job.

They wouldn’t believe it any more than if it were said

a girl can’t be a good flyer and a woman, a woman at the same time.

After the war, they didn’t want to give that up.

They wouldn’t give up their independence.

A lot of ’em stayed in aviation.

And a lot of ’em didn’t want to go back to the kitchen.

They wanted their freedom again.

[no audible dialogue]

And these WASPs really were great mentors.

They organized these air races called the Powder Puff Derby.

The first one I flew in was ’52.

You know, when you’re 18, you don’t have fear,

and you don’t think of it as being brave.

You think of adventures and having fun.

Because 18-year-olds think nothing will ever happen to ’em.

You know, “Powder Puff Derby” has a great ring to it.

And it was always great to say, “Yeah, I flew the Powder Puff Derby.”

When you’re at the takeoff line and the flag drops,

you put the power to it, and you take off,

and I stayed very close to the runway to get my speed up.

[Jessen] The women that you meet who are flying in those air races are wonderful,

and they’re very inspiring.

And you make lifelong friends.

What a thrill it is to have won this 13th Annual All-Women International Air Race.

Mary and I feel very proud of this.

We’re real happy to be in Florida. What a wonderful state you have.

[Bob Steadman] The air racing was very important.

It proved the mettle. It proved that these gals knew what they were doing.

The racing fraternity was very strong. The bond was very strong.

[man] On October 4, 1957,

a world-stirring event took place.

Sputnik! My word.

To see this thing going around the world.

Space was very, very exciting then. Everybody was into this space business.

I do remember Mother’s extraordinary enthusiasm

when she knew that the Sputnik was gonna be traversing in the sky.

She got us all out of the house and looking up at the sky, and just, I mean,

she had grapefruit juice in her hand, and she poured it all over herself.

She was just so excited.

How quickly it went from just sending up Sputniks …

and then sending up animals.

I think everybody was astounded at those accomplishments.

[Bob Steadman] I remember the Russians had,

at that point in time, had succeeded in every single endeavor.

They were ahead of us.

The United States needed to catch up.

[man] One of these seven young men will be the first American into space.

These are the astronauts.

United States Project Mercury.

When this program started, a lot of the military guys wanted in it.

So they developed criteria for qualification to be an astronaut.

[man] Each must be:

the graduate of a navy or air force test pilot school,

1,500 hours of flight time…

qualified in jet aircraft,

an engineering background,

and 5’11” or less.

Thirty-two candidates reported to the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico

for an exhaustive series of physical examinations.

These tests were divided between those given under normal clinical procedures

and a series used for the first time in Project Mercury.

[Bob Steadman] NASA had picked Dr. Lovelace

to set the standards for the astronauts in the program.

So he had developed the testing, and he had conducted the testing.

[man] The question is, is Dr. Lovelace’s work done?

We hope to continue to participate in the program.

I might say that all our doctors and technicians

are a little tired right at the moment.

My father was Dr. William Randolph Lovelace II.

He had a great smile, but he could also be very serious.

He was a surgeon first and foremost,

but was always involved with aviation, then aerospace medicine.

He was invited to be head of space medicine for NASA.

That was a fun time

because the seven astronauts came to our house for dinner almost every night.

And we were instructed to make conversation with everyone.

So we did, and ate with them,

voted on them each night in terms of who we liked the best,

and would tell our father in the morning at breakfast.

It was always Scott Carpenter.

It was just an amazing time.

They’d make fun of my father and the tests that he made them do, and…

But there was obviously respect there.

[John Glenn] I think the tests out of Dr. Lovelace’s place in Albuquerque out there,

uh, certainly some of the tests we had out there were the most trying.

And it’s rather difficult to pick one,

because if you figure how many openings there are on the human body

and how far you can go in any one of ’em…

[laughter]

You gave it away.

Now you answer which one would be the toughest for you, and that’s it.

[laughter continues]

[Ratley] The cookie cutters. Cookie-cutter males.

And cookie-cutter means there was no difference in their religion,

in their state of origin, or anything.

They were just all exactly the same.

[Johnson] My father felt very strongly about having

a group of women astronauts.

If you’re a pioneer, you just start with your instincts, I guess.

He felt that women had a definite role in space,

that there were... physically and emotionally, that they had some attributes

that were stronger than the male astronauts’.

[Johnson] And he wanted to test their capability

by comparing their test results to the test results of the male astronauts.

Clearly,

one of the women in his life that catapulted that into action

was his relationship with Jackie Cochran.

I’m Jacqueline Cochran, and I really would like to be the first woman in space.

Anyone who’s spent as much time in the air as I have in the last 34 years

is bound to yearn to go a little bit farther.

[Johnson] Jackie Cochran was my godmother.

And…

Floyd Odlum actually was on our board of directors.

I think he was the president.

He was the original chairman of our board for the Lovelace Clinic.

So he turned to Floyd Odlum and Jackie,

and they financed that study.

[Jessen] This was his program.

Dr. Lovelace did it on his own, outside of his contract with NASA…

and invited 25 women to come and take the physical exam,

very similar to what the astronauts were taking.

They had a list of the top pilots that they knew.

And one of the first that was called was Jerrie Cobb.

She was a great gal.

I was asked by Dr. Lovelace and General Flickinger

to be the first woman to go through these astronaut tests.

This was in 1959.

Both of them had just come back from a scientific meeting in Moscow.

At that time, they had heard the Russians were gonna train women cosmonauts.

And this was over three years ago.

So they thought we ought to get together and start doing something.

They asked me if I would be the first woman to undergo the astronaut test,

which I was, couldn’t say yes fast enough, and then...

[Funk] Now, I knew Jerrie because she flew the Aero Commander.

She had done a lot of flying.

She flew a lot into South America. And I knew her life.

I knew Jerrie Cobb, yeah. She was a good pilot.

But I think I could fly as well as she could. [chuckles]

She may not think so, but I think I could’ve.

Why, in the Western program, do you think there is a need,

if you feel there is a need, for women in space?

Well, it’s the same thing as, is there a need for men in space?

I mean, if we’re going to send a human being into space,

we should send the one most qualified.

And in certain areas women have a lot to offer, and other areas, men do.

I think that we ought to use both.

[Funk] Jerrie and I were from Oklahoma. I was at Fort Sill.

She called and said, “Do you want to be an astronaut?”

I said, “Absolutely.”

I knew Wally.

And Wally took me aside one time when we were having a competition,

and she said, “I’m in a secret program.

It’s an astronaut program, and it’s very secret.”

And I thought, “That sounds like fun. I think I want to get involved in that.”

So here’s my letter to Dr. Lovelace saying,

“I’m physically fit and I’m a pilot,

and I’d like to participate in your tests.”

And here’s his letter back. And he encloses a card

which outlines the qualifications of the women astronauts.

First thing they ask you is, “What are your total flying hours?”

I can tell ’em that.

Then they wanna know your total jet hours,

your aircraft flown hours in each: balloon flights, parachute jumps,

hours flown over 20,000 feet,

hours flown over 30,000 feet, hours flown over 40,000 feet,

low-pressure chamber indoctrination, explosive decompression experience,

partial pressure suit experience.

- I could answer number one. - [Ratley laughs]

Yeah. None of us had any qualification. She was an engineer.

We were subjects to be tested.

[Bob Steadman] B was on that list.

This was something that fit so much what she was.

I mean, she was…

one of the finest professional pilots in the country, bar none, men or women.

[Woltman] They contacted me. I...

And I guess they knew I was flying, and so they talked to me about it.

I was on a tour of Europe, and there were, kind of, rumors in the background

of what was going on and how names had been asked for.

And the next thing I knew, I got a phone call.

[Jessen] I went to my boss, and I said, “I’ve been invited

to go take an astronaut physical exam.”

My boss said, “We cannot spare you.”

So I quit my job to go take this... these tests.

[Funk] I was the youngest.

Second one to go through after Jerrie,

maybe the third, in February of ’61.

There were three phases of astronaut testing.

Phase one was at Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque.

My parents drove me there and had to sign me in.

We went through either singly or in pairs.

And I went through with Janey Hart, who was a marvelous person.

[Ratley] Janey Hart, you know, you weren’t supposed to have children,

and Janey Hart had eight.

They were so curious about her that they invited her in.

So she and I went through it together. We were the last two to go together.

[Funk] It took five days.

And they were quite incredible,

because they didn’t really know what to think our bodies would do

in the outer atmospheres, or how we were going to react.

The testing was arduous. It was thorough and long hours.

It was a little bit more thorough than most physical examinations.

[Jessen] You’d run from one test to the next test.

[Funk] We had pulmonary function tests…

Some of ’em were not... not, uh, real friendly to the body.

…total body determination tests…

- Some of ’em were kind of exotic. - [Funk] Every tooth was taken, pictures.

[Jessen] Some of ’em were kind of strange.

Every bone in my body had an X-ray.

[Jessen] They x-rayed and x-rayed and x-rayed.

[Funk] They gave me two cups, and one said “Urine” and one said “Stool.”

I was having fun. I just kinda laughed at some of the stuff.

I said, “I don’t know what ‘stool’ is. A stool, to me,

is when I was sitting on a stool milking cows in Taos.

I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh. A stool is when you go to the bathroom.”

I said, “You don’t want that, do you?”

I’ll tell you very confidentially, don’t tell anybody this,

we had an enema every morning.

I said, “Wow.”

There were some really oddball things like that.

They inject water, ten-degree water into my ears,

and that’s when your body just does not… function.

You have no control over your body.

Oh, yeah. I remember that. Yeah.

I didn’t like it, but I did it.

What they were doing to those gals was just ugly.

Really none of the tests stood out that much.

[machine whirring]

Shortly after I left, Jacqueline Cochran was coming in for an interview too.

And she had taken some tests,

and he was going to give her the results of the tests, he told me.

And I believe he told me, “She’s not gonna be happy with this.”

So she found that she wasn’t gonna be able to be a part of the program.

I think that was kind of a downer for her.

She was too old, I think, at that point,

to even be considered for spaceflight.

Those aren’t the issues to her.

[man] Would you like to be a Mercury astronaut, or “astronautte”?

[Cochran] I would like very, very much to be.

I don’t think age has a thing to do with it as long as you’re healthy and vigorous,

and I’m all of that. After I got through yesterday, you know what I did?

- [man] No, what? - Went out and played 18 holes of golf,

and then cooked dinner.

[Ratley] The very last day, they told me I had passed.

And that meant a great deal to me.

It was very nice when some of the doctors said

that I had done very well on these tests.

Remarkably, you know, after having nine full pregnancies,

she just had a body that wouldn’t quit. It was great.

And of the 23ish girls who were taken, only 13 passed.

[Bob Steadman] Later, when B sat down with Randy Lovelace,

he was absolutely thrilled at what the women so far had done.

I was following it. Of course I was following what the Russians were doing.

[speaking Russian]

[Jim Hart] When Yuri Gagarin went up,

you know, just a phenomenal thing to happen.

That was a huge event. All of us were conscious of it.

All of us were conscious of the competition with Russia,

the Soviet Union, at the same time.

So there was... there was the space race

as well as just the scientific adventure hook.

My memories are, “Why can’t the Americans do it?”

This was the feeling at the time.

[Bob Steadman] The Russians were basically crowing,

and they were clearly in advance of our space program.

Our Mercury men were being prepared, basically, to compete.

[man on radio] Three… two… one… zero.

Liftoff.

All right, now. Liftoff, and the clock has started.

Yes, sir. Reading you loud and clear.

This is Freedom 7 . The fuel is go.

They were strapped into a seat and sent up there and brought back down.

And, “Whoopee, here I am. I made it, but I didn’t fly it.”

Phase two was in Oklahoma City, and I stayed at Jerrie’s house.

And that was the psychological tests.

I heard about a test where you were submerged in a tank of water and,

for a long period of time, lost all the normal five senses.

That was a very interesting experiment

where they isolate you in a tank of warm water.

[Funk] The tank was in a great big room.

They had already put the earplugs in my ears.

And I had just enough foam rubber to go under the small of my back,

and I was to lay on the water as long as possible.

So I get in the water, and I get comfortable, and I spread-eagle out.

And I thought, “There’s something wrong here.”

I splashed the water,

couldn’t feel it.

Splashed my face, couldn’t feel any water.

Couldn’t feel anything.

[Ann Hart] She found it interesting that in that sensory deprivation chamber,

so-called, that the women were perfectly happy to be there forever,

and that the men just couldn’t take it. They started crawling out of their skin.

[laughing] You just sort of feel nothing.

It’s very relaxing, I found it, and very peaceful.

I’d been on quite a schedule before I went in there.

So I sort of welcomed the rest,

and set a record for staying in nine and a half hours.

But most of the people, the average, uh, mature person,

after about three hours of this, starts hallucinations.

[Funk] What’s gone on here is the temperature of the water,

the humidity of the room…

was my exact body temperature

to make me feel in a weightless situation, laying on the water.

This is what they thought space travel would be like.

So I lay there.

I think I fell asleep

maybe for a minute or so.

I was thinking about how wonderful it would be

to be up there and feel the lightness.

It was freedom.

You can look up, you can see the stars…

the moon, and the sun.

And you wonder, “How does it all work?”

I didn’t have the answers.

But I was thinking about all this.

Floating amongst the stars, that is my objective.

The third testing was to go to Pensacola, Florida with the navy.

We were all going to go down there at the same time, all 13 of us.

It would be the first time we would meet each other.

[Ratley] This is a letter from Jacqueline Cochran.

See, “Dr. Randolph Lovelace II of the Lovelace Foundation

has notified you of the invitation to go to Pensacola, Florida

for a... take a series of tests

to start on September 18, 1961.

I strongly urge you to go.”

[Jessen] We were gonna get jet orientation.

We were gonna get the centrifuge.

There were just gonna be lots of neat things that were gonna happen.

Flying jets, oh, she was looking forward to that.

They had been given their tickets, their time. Everything was set up.

[Ratley] We were supposed to report there on, I think it was on a Monday,

and I remember B Steadman telling me she had her golf clubs packed.

[Jessen] That’s when NASA got wind of it.

They didn’t know anything about Dr. Lovelace’s program.

“Regret to advise arrangements at Pensacola canceled.

Probably will not be possible to carry out this part of the program.

You may return expense advance allotment to Lovelace Foundation.”

Here’s another one.

“Miss Cobb has just informed us from Washington that she has been unable

to reverse the decision postponing the Florida testing.

I’m very sorry for such short notice, but it is unavoidable.”

[applause]

[Johnson] When he had the results, which he thought were superior to the men,

so he did tell us that and we all thought that was really cool,

he took the results to Washington.

[chuckling] They said,

“We have no need for women astronauts. Forget it.”

There was certainly no great desire on the part of NASA.

In fact, I’m confident that they were surprised, terribly surprised,

by the fact that the women succeeded as they did.

They did not want this program, pure and simple.

Said it had to be the biggest slap in the face he’d ever had.

I mean, it had to be… pretty devastating.

[Ratley] It was very heartbreaking for me…

because I wanted to go on and pursue this.

But we kept getting letters from Jerrie Cobb:

“Keep up your hopes. Keep up your aviation.

Maybe we can get the program reinstated and go on.”

Shortly after,

I was at an airport where there was a lot of helicopter training.

I just decided, “I think I’ll learn how to do that too.”

All the men were jealous of this woman flying a helicopter.

And they’d park it real close to the hangar.

And I was a little afraid to take it up and over into a hover.

But I kind of put it out of my mind. I didn’t care.

I was going to keep on fighting.

[Jessen] Well, I was disappointed.

But about that time I decided that I would like to move out of flight instructing

and go into a different kind of flying.

So off I went to work for Beech Aircraft Corporation.

And they were getting ready to introduce a new model airplane named the Musketeer.

There were only two women in the United States flying for aircraft manufacturers,

and one of ’em was Jerrie Cobb, who was flying for Aero Commander.

The other one was Joyce Case, who was flying for Beech Aircraft.

They were getting ready to introduce a Musketeer.

They were gonna fly three of ’em in all 48 contiguous states for 90 days,

uh, introducing the airplane.

And of course, if two of the three pilots are female,

we’ll get a lot of free publicity.

And I can tell you that we always flew in a dress and high heels.

We were workin’ hard. We were flyin’, flyin’, flyin’.

We got used to flying in formation.

We knew nothing about flying formation when we started out.

But after a few days of it, we got pretty good at it.

We made some 80 changes in that airplane the first year.

So we were test pilots. No question about that.

I was hired right after the tests

to go to California and be with Center Aviation.

I bought my Stearman, and I taught myself acrobatics.

I love it when I can go flying.

I love it when I can do acrobatics.

It is fabulous because you are free.

You’re not attached to the gravity of the Earth.

You can do what you want to do.

And that’s how I feel and that’s how I think.

Freedom.

I dream about space.

I wanna be up there.

That’s part of me.

How am I gonna get up there?

I have to imagine.

I’m not a jet. I am not a person.

I’m a spirit going up.

[man on radio] Roger.

- Fifteen seconds. - [man #2] Good Lord, ride all the way.

[man] In Godspeed, John Glenn.

[Bob Steadman] Glenn was the first to orbit. The first American.

Roger. Cape is go, and I am go. Our capsule is in good shape.

[Bob Steadman] And, let’s face it, you’re going up there in an untested system.

Nobody, nobody really knows what’s going to happen.

Roger. Zero G and I feel fine. Capsule is turning around.

Oh, that view is tremendous.

[Bob Steadman] So I give Glenn credit for courage.

I give them all credit for courage.

[man] Uh, Friendship 7, this is Cape. Do you read?

This is Friendship 7. A real fireball outside.

At the same time, I give the women the same credit for the same courage.

Their willingness to take part in the unknown

was equally strong and as courageous as that of the men.

About that time, Jerrie had contacted the women and said,

“Okay. Let’s... Let’s make noise because they’ve cheated us

by not letting us go to Pensacola and take more testing.

So the secret is out.”

Jerrie Cobb and Janey Hart figured they would go up before this Senate committee

and they would get the program reinstated, because Janey Hart had political clout.

My father was elected to the Senate

after having been the lieutenant governor of Michigan.

Janey and Jerrie Cobb felt that Congress ought to tell NASA,

“Now, let’s get with this. Let’s do this.”

[gavel raps]

[Ratley] “Both Miss Cobb and Mrs. Hart,

if everyone is agreeable, we will begin the questioning.”

[Ann Hart] Janey started with an opening statement.

“I strongly believe women should have a role in space research.

In fact, it’s inconceivable to me

that the world of outer space should be restricted to men only,

like some sort of stag club.

A hundred years ago, it was quite inconceivable

that women should serve as hospital attendants.

Their essentially frail and emotional structure

would never stand the horrors of a military dressing station.

Finally, it was agreed to allow some women to try it,

provided they were middle-aged and ugly,

ugly women presumably having more strength of character.

I submit, Mr. Chairman,

that a woman in space today is no more preposterous

than a woman in a field hospital a hundred years ago.”

Mrs. Hart, you’re the mother of eight children.

Do you think it’ll be difficult for a woman astronaut to also have a family?

In which order? Uh... [chuckles]

- Well, I’m asking you that. Which order? - Um...

Well, I’ve accomplished the production of eight children

and am in the process of raising them,

and I’ve still been able to acquire 2,000 hours of flying time

and considerable aeronautical experience,

and also to help my husband, uh, in his campaigns and so forth.

So this indicates that I’ve been able to make constructive use of my time

outside of... of, uh having the children.

And I don’t think that the family life has been sacrificed one bit.

You should probably ask the children this and see how they feel about it.

For her, if she can have eight kids in ten years and make it work,

the idea of going to space, I think, was not that great a challenge.

They once asked her, “Why would you wanna go to the moon?” This was in the paper.

And she said, “With eight kids, you’d want to go to the moon too.”

“All right, Miss Cobb. Do you have a prepared statement? Miss Cobb: Yes.”

[Funk] “We women pilots who want to be a part of space exploration

are not trying to join a battle of the sexes.

We seek only a place in our nation’s space future

without discrimination.

We ask as citizens of the nation

to be allowed to participate with seriousness and sincerity

in the making of history now, as women have done in the past.

No nation has yet sent a female into space.

We offer you 13 women pilot volunteers.”

Miss Cobb, do you think women are being discriminated against

in the space program?

I don’t think necessarily they’re being discriminated against.

I think that the rules have been established

to where it makes... it makes it impossible

for women to meet the qualifications of astronauts.

[Jim Hart] The most hyped-up qualifying catch-22, of course,

was that all of them were test pilots and jet-certified pilots

and fighter pilots, in most cases.

So they had that qualification that no women had.

But of course, they couldn’t,

because they weren’t allowed to become jet fighter pilots.

There was a law.

Eisenhower had put a law in that for women to fly military aircraft,

they had to be men.

I don’t think they should become astronauts because, uh, uh,

I don’t... men are more mature than women. [laughs]

I think they should. I think that women should have an equal right with men,

and if they would qualify and like to go, they should be trained and sent.

Yes, I do. Because they’re, well, they’re lighter, and small, and…

[both chuckle]

Well, I just think they ought to be.

- [man] And what about your opinion? - No, I disagree. I think that, uh...

I don’t think women are physically fit to be astronauts.

I certainly do think women should be astronauts.

If they’re physically fit, mentally alert, they’re not any different than men are.

In fact, there are less women going to psychiatrists than men,

so that gives you some idea as to their mental capabilities.

[low chatter, scattered applause]

[Jessen] The people who held the hearing, they were in such awe of the astronauts

who came and spoke and testified.

Scott Carpenter and John Glenn gave their point of view.

[Bob Steadman] John Glenn was the hero. He was God.

Space God.

Oh, John Glenn. Yes.

Not one of our family’s favorite characters,

certainly not Mother’s.

[Ratley] John Glenn made his statement.

“It’s just a fact.

The men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes

and come back and help design and build and test them.

The fact that the women are not in this field

is a fact of our social order.”

He said that, “If the women can prove they’re better than the men,

then we’ll welcome them with open arms to the cheers of the multitude.”

Yeah, right.

But if you could find women better qualified than yourself,

how would you welcome them in the program?

[laughs]

- They would be very welcome. - [laughter]

“Can you imagine a woman flying a jet or flying a dangerous aircraft?”

“Oh! Goodness gracious, no.”

But Jacqueline Cochran had flown the jets.

She’d shattered all kinds of records.

She had access to the jets because her husband, Floyd Odlum,

was building the jets now for the air force.

So she proved that the women could fly the jets.

When it finally came down to the hearing, the congressional hearing, she testified.

[Ratley] Of course, Floyd Odlum and Jackie Cochran

were large supporters of the Lovelace Foundation.

So I didn’t give up hope.

[laughing]

This is great.

Oh, boy.

All right. So I’m reading from the testimony of Jacqueline Cochran.

“The manned spaceflights are extremely expensive

and also urgent in the national interests,

and therefore, in selecting astronauts, it was natural and proper

to sift them from the group of male pilots who had already proven,

by aircraft testing and high-speed precision flying,

that they were experienced, competent, and qualified

to meet possible emergencies in a new environment.

From all I have been told by the newspapers,

that we do not want to slow down our program,

and you are going to have to, of necessity,

waste a great deal of money when you take a large group of women in,

because you lose them through marriage.”

I find this stunning.

[Bob Steadman] Why? Why had Jacqueline Cochran done this?

She had basically knocked down the women of the space program.

How she stomached it then, I don’t know.

[Ratley] The most shocking thing about the hearings was that

we felt like Jackie turned against us.

Janey and Jerrie counted on Jackie Cochran supporting them.

And Jackie Cochran did not do what they thought she was gonna do.

- That was a shock. Yeah. - Yeah, it was much of a shock.

Jacqueline Cochran sort of…

Now, she had always worked with the military.

And so Jackie was convinced by the brass, by these generals,

if she tried to push this now,

that it was going to have a bad effect on the program.

In fact, it might even stop the program.

Well, I think that’s ludicrous, but she bought in.

And they took my testimony.

I sent it around and got what I was going to say approved

by the chief of staff of the air force,

the chief of naval operations, and the army,

and with a little note that said, “This is what I’m gonna say.

But if you don’t agree with it, I’ll try to avoid testifying

and I won’t say anything.”

[Johnson] Jackie Cochran was not a feminist.

In my mind, the definition of a feminist

is someone who really champions and promotes women.

Jackie was a champion of Jackie.

I think if Jackie had been one of the 13 in that program,

her entire demeanor, her entire testimony,

and everything that she said in that hearing would have been very different.

After that, Vice President Johnson canceled the program.

The women were doing too well.

[Johnson] There is a classic letter signed by Lyndon Johnson.

And he is the one that said, “This program must stop now,”

and signed it.

His words were, “Stop this now.”

[Johnson] Lyndon Johnson supposedly, supposedly, said,

“Well, you know, women have their periods.”

I wish you could put that on a tampon box,

that you can fly, you can fly if you’re having your period.

It was so typical, in that day and age, of men and how they judged women.

There were any number of ways

to keep them from achieving what they wanted to achieve.

[cheering]

[Jim Hart] I think it had as much to do with the boys not wanting

to have the light taken away from them,

because they were the heroes of our time.

One beautiful woman as an astronaut

would have just dominated the news…

to the extent that the other seven would feel...

[gasps] “What has gone wrong, and where’s my money?”

If the gentlemen who denied the Mercury 13

were comfortable in their skin, they would have behaved differently.

But underneath it all, it’s just some little boy who’s afraid.

[Johnson] We all know why it didn’t happen.

And that goes back to this issue of…

uh, just prejudice, good old-fashioned prejudice.

- Of course they were prejudiced. - It was a good old boy network.

And there was no such thing as a “good old girl” network.

I was disappointed, ’cause I knew I did it well, and...

But they didn’t like that, or they didn’t like any of the people doing it.

So that was the end of that one.

Years, years later, Jackie admitted to me she was embarrassed,

she was regretful…

and somewhat ashamed, and told me so.

In order to beat the Russians to the moon, we first have to catch up with them.

When do you think this might happen,

and what do you expect their next space mission to be?

A little difficult to pinpoint where we stand in a race

when the opposition does everything under cloak-and-dagger type secrecy,

where we don’t know what they’re doing. You don’t know what you’re racing against.

You don’t have any idea, their mission? Supposed to be one quite soon.

None at all. I have no secret information other than what I read in the newspapers.

[crowd cheering, applause]

[Ratley] Valentina,

although she was Russian and we wished the first one would have been American,

she still helped the program.

[Jessen] It was a bold move to climb into one of those vehicles

and shoot up into space and then see what happens next.

Valentina was a sport parachutist.

We would rather have seen a pilot selected.

But the fact that they had a woman going into space,

that was a breakthrough, and, uh, we-we admired her very much.

[Bob Steadman] It was a huge propaganda victory for the Russians again.

B just sat there and thought how stupid these men were.

- [cheering] - [inaudible]

[man] The Russians have put up a woman cosmonaut.

Is there any room in our space programs

for a woman astronaut, in your opinion, sir?

Well, we could have used a woman on the...

on the second... actually, the second orbital Mercury-Atlas that we had.

We could have put a woman up, the same type of woman,

and flown her instead of the chimpanzee.

- Now... - [laughter]

[Ann Hart] Mother was really angry. Really angry. Yeah.

Yes, she was. And stayed that way, actually.

This termination of this program

began to move her in the direction of being radicalized.

Mother was one of the very first founding members of NOW,

the National Organization of Women.

She’d been invited as a result of the hearings.

She hammered on women’s rights day and night,

week after week, month after month,

almost, um, just to the point of, “Here she goes again.”

[woman on radio] That’s one small step for a woman…

one giant leap for womankind.

[man] You’ve only got 15 minutes before we want you driving back to the LEM, over.

[woman] Okay.

We’ll get to work. Sarah, we need to sample here.

[Jim Hart] Going to the moon was one of those points in the ’60s

where there was something we could all share with pride.

[woman] It’s a great ride. Steering’s a little tricky though.

But imagine how much more telling and significant it would have been

to have a woman step onto the moon.

- [crowd cheering] - [sirens wailing]

[Ann Hart] It was a very seriously missed opportunity.

This really could have changed lives hugely.

Not just in terms of, you know, little girls getting engineering degrees,

but moving into positions of real power…

implementing practices and policies that might have represented

that humanitarian component of woman,

you know, as opposed to the bellicose boys.

[band playing patriotic music]

[Johnson] It would have had an amazing, positive impact…

empowering women in general,

and overcoming this notion

that women cannot do what men do in this country.

[band music fades out]

[Funk] I would have liked to have walked on the moon.

I would have loved to have put the American flag into the crust of the moon…

and saluted it…

pick up a few rocks, and boy, those rocks are worth a lot today…

and do the assignments that had to be done.

I would’ve loved it.

I could’ve walked on it. I could’ve kicked it out. I could’ve made dust.

Because I know the guys did.

I could’ve done anything they did.

I grew up in Elmira, New York, and the interesting thing about Elmira is

it’s the location of the National Soaring Museum.

So when I was a child, I’d watch the gliders take off and land.

And I wondered, “What would it be like if I was up there?”

So I started thinking as a child that maybe I could fly someday.

As I got older, I decided I wanted to be an astronaut.

But I don’t remember thinking, “I can’t do this because I’m not a man.”

It was more like, “Well, I’m going to be an astronaut,

and I’ll just be a woman astronaut.”

The air force opened flight training to women in 1976.

I was in the first class of women pilots in the air force

that went right out of college.

And we were in a test program.

So we just knew if we had failed,

that then women wouldn’t continue to fly.

So I tried very, very hard.

I wasn’t gonna date anybody. I wasn’t gonna have a crazy social life.

Because it was so important to me to be the best pilot I could be.

I loved the air force. Absolutely loved it.

But I never told anyone I wanted to be an astronaut…

because I knew they were gonna tell me I couldn’t do it.

I was out flying.

I came back to the squadron…

and there was a yellow note hanging on the bulletin board.

And it said, “Call NASA.”

[sighs] I go, “This is it. They’re gonna tell me if I’m in or out.”

John Young answered the phone.

He was an astronaut who walked on the moon during the Apollo program.

The first thing he said to me was, “Do you still want to be an astronaut?”

I said, “Uh…

yes.”

So he went through this whole long narrative about what I was gonna do

at Johnson Space Center. He said, “Do you have any questions?”

I said, “Yes. Am I gonna be a pilot or a mission specialist?”

And he said, “You’re gonna be a pilot.

You’re gonna be the first woman to pilot the space shuttle.”

Thanks.

Mr. President, Mrs. Clinton,

and Administrator Goldin,

I just can’t tell you how much of an honor it is for me to be here today.

I also think it’s important that I point out that I didn’t get here alone.

There’s so many women throughout this century

that have gone before me and have taken to the skies.

Um, from the first barnstormers,

through the women air force...

The women military air force service pilots from World War II,

the Mercury women from back in the early 1960s

that went through the... All the tough medical testing.

All these women have been my role models and my inspiration,

and I couldn’t be here today without them,

and I’d like to say a special thank-you to them.

[applause]

[Collins] The Mercury 13 women are heroes of mine.

We all had this bond because we were all pilots.

So I invited all of them to my launch.

Well, when NASA found out what was going on, who these women were,

NASA took them off of my list and put them on the VIP list.

When Eileen Collins went up, uh, I got a call,

and she invited me to come to the launch.

[Bob Steadman] They had a press conference or whatever,

where they have the astronauts up on a stage in this large hall.

[crowd cheering]

They had Eileen take the microphone.

Before she did anything else, she said,

“I would like to recognize the Mercury 13.”

And she pointed to them. She said, “Would you please stand up?”

And then she read the names.

And then she said,

“If it were not for the Mercury 13, I would not be here today.”

They were very gracious and outgoing to us, and could not have been nicer.

But I will never forget that, when all those astronauts

stood up and clapped for us.

[cheering, applause]

[woman] We have booster ignition and liftoff of Columbia,

reaching new heights for women and X-ray astronomy.

[man, indistinct]

[Collins] This is Columbia. In the roll, we’ve got a fuel cell… number one.

[man] Roger roll, Columbia. We’re looking at it.

And so that had a lot of meaning for us, to get to know Eileen,

and especially to go watch her head out into the sky.

Just love it, thinking, “She’s in the driver’s seat.

That woman is in the driver’s seat.”

[Ratley] We felt redeemed, like our mission had not been in vain.

We started people thinking that, “Yes, women can do this.”

[Collins] And, Houston, what you’re seeing is the actual moment of deploy there,

when we take the switch to deploy, and it’s so quiet...

[Collins] When I talk about the future of space exploration,

one of the things I tell young people nowadays is,

“Of the 12 people that walked on the moon, they were all men.

But that was a function of the culture that we had in the world

back in the 1960s.

You can be the first woman to walk on the moon

if you wanna be an astronaut.” That’s the message I tell young people.

Maybe the first person to walk on Mars will be a woman.

[Funk] We got Eileen. We got all the girls.

A lot of ’em are engineers. Some are pilots.

This is what I speak to the youngsters today:

Get into the STEM program. Get your engineering degree.

Go with NASA.

And get yourself into space. Get yourself into flying.

Be an airline pilot. Be a flight instructor.

If that’s what you wanna be, do it. ’Cause that’s what I love.