Mercury 13 Page #4

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so-called, that the women

were perfectly happy to be there forever,

and that the men just couldnt take it.

They started crawling out of their skin.

You just sort of feel nothing.

Its very relaxing, I found it,

and very peaceful.

Id 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.

Whats 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 didnt 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.

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.

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.

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.

Thats when NASA got wind of it.

They didnt know anything

about Dr. Lovelaces 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.

Heres another one.

Miss Cobb has just informed us

from Washington that she has been unable

to reverse the decision

postponing the Florida testing.

Im very sorry for such short notice,

but it is unavoidable.

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.

They said,

We have no need for women astronauts.

Forget it.

There was certainly no great desire

on the part of NASA.

In fact, Im 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 hed ever had.

I mean, it had to be pretty devastating.

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 Ill learn how to do that too.

All the men were jealous of this woman

flying a helicopter.

And theyd 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 didnt care.

I was going to keep on fighting.

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,

well 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.

Youre not attached to the gravity

of the Earth.

You can do what you want to do.

And thats how I feel

and thats how I think.

Freedom.

I dream about space.

I wanna be up there.

Thats part of me.

How am I gonna get up there?

I have to imagine.

Im not a jet. I am not a person.

Im a spirit going up.

Roger.

- Fifteen seconds.

- Good Lord, ride all the way.

In Godspeed, John Glenn.

Glenn was

the first to orbit. The first American.

Roger. Cape is go, and I am go.

Our capsule is in good shape.

And, lets face it, youre

going up there in an untested system.

Nobody, nobody really knows

whats going to happen.

Roger. Zero G and I feel fine.

Capsule is turning around.

Oh, that view is tremendous.

So I give Glenn credit for courage.

I give them all credit for courage.

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. Lets... Lets make noise

because theyve 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, lets get with this. Lets do this.

Both Miss Cobb and Mrs. Hart,

if everyone is agreeable,

we will begin the questioning.

Janey started with an opening statement.

I strongly believe women should have

a role in space research.

In fact, its inconceivable to me

that the world of outer space

should be restricted to men only,

like some sort of stag club.

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