"Mercury 13: Ғарышқа қадам басуға дайын болған американдық әйелдер"

Group of American women who passed astronaut screening tests

the 2018 documentary

The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who took part in a privately funded research program run by NASA physician William Randolph Lovelace II in 1959 1960, which aimed to test and screen women for spaceflight. The first participant, pilot Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb helped Lovelace identify and recruit the others. The participants successfully underwent the same physiological screening tests as had the astronauts selected by NASA for Project Mercury. While Lovelace called the project Woman in Space Program,

NASA knew that numerous people would apply for this opportunity and testing would be expensive. President Dwight Eisenhower believed that military test pilots would make the best astronauts and had already passed rigorous testing and training within the government. This greatly altered the testing requirements and shifted the history of who was chosen to go to space originally. William Randolph Lovelace II, former Flight Surgeon and later, chairman of the NASA Special Advisory Committee on Life Science, helped develop the tests for NASA's male astronauts and became curious to know how women would do taking the same tests. In 1960, Lovelace and Air Force Brig. General Don Flickinger invited Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb, known as an accomplished pilot, to undergo the same rigorous challenges as the men.

All of the candidates were accomplished pilots; Lovelace and Cobb reviewed the records of more than 700 women pilots in order to select candidates. They did not invite anyone with fewer than 1,000 hours of flight experience. Some of the women may have been recruited through the Ninety Nines, This group of women, whom Jerrie Cobb called the First Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLATs), accepted the challenge to be tested for a research program. Wally Funk wrote an article saying that, given the secrecy of the testing, not all of the women candidates knew each other throughout their years of preparation. It was not until 1994 that ten of the Mercury 13 were introduced to each other for the first time.

Nineteen women took astronaut fitness examinations given by the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Unlike NASA's male candidates, who competed in groups, the women did their tests alone or in pairs.

A few women took additional tests. Jerrie Cobb, Rhea Hurrle, and Wally Funk went to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for Phase II testing, consisting of an isolation tank test and psychological evaluations. Because of other family and job commitments, not all of the women were able to take these tests. Once Cobb had passed the Phase III tests (advanced aeromedical examinations using military equipment and jet aircraft), the group prepared to gather in Pensacola, Florida at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine to follow suit. Two of the women quit their jobs in order to be able to attend. A few days before they were to report, however, the women received telegrams abruptly canceling the Pensacola testing. Without an official NASA request to run the tests, the United States Navy would not allow the use of its facilities for such an unofficial project. Funk reportedly also completed the third phase of testing, but this claim is misleading. Following NASA's cancellation of the tests, she found ways to continue being tested. She did complete most of the Phase III tests, but only by individual actions, not as part of a specific program. Cobb passed all the training exercises, ranking in the top 2% of all astronaut candidates of both genders. Regardless of the women's achievements in testing, NASA continued to exclude women as astronaut candidates for years. Despite the Soviet advancement to put the first woman in space in 1963 after Yuri Gagarin's orbit in 1961, the men who testified at the hearing were unmotivated. Any threat to the "patriotic chronology" of the American schedule would be considered an "impediment" or "interruption". Significantly, the hearings investigated the possibility of gender discrimination two years before passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that made such actions illegal. Cobb and Hart testified about the benefits of Lovelace's private project. Jacqueline Cochran largely undermined their testimony, talking about her concerns that setting up a special program to train a woman astronaut could hurt the space program. She proposed a project with a large group of women, and expected a significant amount to drop out due to reasons like "marriage, childbirth, and other causes". Though Cochran initially supported the program, she was later responsible for delaying further phases of testing, and letters from her to members of the Navy and NASA expressing concern over whether the program was to be run properly and in accordance with NASA goals may have significantly contributed to the eventual cancellation of the program. It is generally accepted that Cochran turned against the program out of concern that she would no longer be the most prominent female aviator. They correctly stated that NASA required all astronauts to be graduates of military jet test piloting programs and have engineering degrees, although John Glenn conceded that he had been assigned to NASA's Mercury Project without having earned the required college degree. In 1962, women were still barred from Air Force training schools, so no American women could become test pilots of military jets. Despite the fact that several of the Mercury 13 had been employed as civilian test pilots, and many had considerably more propeller aircraft flying time than the male astronaut candidates (although not in high performance jets, like the men), NASA refused to consider granting an equivalency for their hours in the more basic propeller aircraft, it was presumed at the time that training and experience in piloting jet and rocket aircraft, such as the X 15 then being developed, would be "most useful for transition to spacecraft." Jan Dietrich had accumulated 8,000 hours, Mary Wallace Funk 3,000 hours, Irene Leverton 9,000+, and Jerrie Cobb 10,000+. Although some members of the Subcommittee were sympathetic to the women's arguments because of this disparity in accepted experience, no action resulted. Executive Assistant to Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Liz Carpenter, drafted a letter to NASA administrator James E. Webb questioning these requirements, but Johnson did not send the letter, instead writing across it, "Let's stop this now!"

The qualifications for prospective astronauts had been a point of contention after the creation of NASA in 1958. The proposition for astronauts to have a background as a pilot was a logical choice, specifically test pilots with a disposition to train and learn to fly new craft designs. The consensus sought jet test pilots from the military, a field where women were not allowed at the time, and by default excluded from consideration. However, NASA also required potential astronauts to hold college degrees – a qualification that John Glenn of the Mercury 7 group did not possess. Although Glenn had begun studying chemistry at Muskingum College in 1939, when the United States entered World War II he left college before completing his final year to enlist in the U. S. Navy, demonstrating that NASA was sometimes willing to make exceptions to these requirements. The larger issue behind this pretense, recognized by Glenn and the overall fight of the Mercury 13, was the organization of social order. Change was needed for women to be considered, but vehemently resisted in secrecy by those already benefiting from their gender supported positions. Little to no support ever surfaced for the merit, strength, or intellect women possessed for the role of an astronaut, despite the evidence for the contrary. Some obvious concerns for NASA during the space race included, but were not limited to, oxygen consumption and weight for the drag effect on takeoff. After the undeniable success of their testing, the FLATs were no longer having to prove their physical and psychological fitness. They were pushing the 'social order' to convince NASA that women had a right to hold the same roles men were granted as astronauts. By including photographs of all thirteen Lovelace finalists, she made the names of all thirteen women public for the first time. On June 17, 1963 New York Times published Jerrie Cobb's comments following the Soviet launch, saying it was "a shame that since we are eventually going to put a woman into space, we didn't go ahead and do it first." There have been countless newspaper articles, films, and books made about the Mercury 13, but they were never featured on the front page or front runner of any media network. in terms of U. S. success in the space race. The media often portrayed the women as unqualified candidates due what was called their frail and emotional structure that implied that they could not undergo the severity that men do. On the day of July 17, 1962, a hearing was set in place for Jerrie Cobb's and Jane Hart's testimony. In further detail, Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream, justifies the hearings and statements done by the two as well as the reporters and the press. Their testimonies make inquiries about the discrimination among women and that their talents should not be prejudged or prequalified due to the fact that they are not men. ten of the FLATs attended her first command mission, and she has flown mementos for almost all of them. BBC News reported that if it wasn't for the rules that further restrained them from flying, then the first woman to go to space could have been an American. Collins on becoming an astronaut: "When I was very young and first started reading about astronauts, there were no female astronauts." She was inspired while she was a child by the Mercury astronauts and by the time she was in high school and college, more opportunities were opening up for women who wanted a part in aviation. Collins then tried out the Air Force and during her very first month's training exercises her base was visited by the newest astronaut class. This class was the first to include women. From that point, she knew that "I wanted to be part of our nation's space program. It's the greatest adventure on this planet – or off the planet, for that matter. I wanted to fly the Space Shuttle."

Reflecting on the events of 1962 and the outcome of the Mercury 13, astronaut Scott Carpenter said, "NASA never had any intention of putting those women in space. The whole idea was foisted upon it, and it was happy to have the research data, but those women were before their time." In March 2019, NASA announced that there would be the first all female spacewalk on the 29th of that month performed at the International Space Station. Anne McClain and Christina Koch were supposed to make history that day, but complications arose when there was a lack of spacesuit availability. NASA has had issues when it comes to spacesuit sizes claiming that they only come in medium, large and extra large sizes. In the 1990s, NASA stopped making spacesuit sizes in small due to technical glitches. This had a huge impact on women astronauts and later led to the cancellation. The long delayed first all female spacewalk finally occurred on October 18, 2019, with Koch and Jessica Meir performing the task, and astronaut Stephanie Wilson acting as Capcom.