NASA’s embarrassingly stupid excuse for rejecting the USA’s almost-first female astronaut

Jerrie Cobb’s Crushed Dream of Space Flight

Jerrie Cobb had the right stuff, but the wrong gender. By age 18, this Oklahoma girl from Guthrie had her pilot’s license.

By 1959, she’d logged 7,000 flight hours and set three world records.

Then in 1960, she aced the same tough tests as the Mercury 7 men, ranking in the top 2% of all candidates. But NASA pulled the plug in 1961 just days before final testing.

When Cobb took her case to Congress in 1962, John Glenn said space was for men who “fight wars. ” Three months later, a Soviet woman orbited Earth instead.

The story of America’s almost-first female astronaut lives on in Guthrie, where her journey to the stars began.

Oklahoma Girl Took To The Skies At Just 12 Years Old

Jerrie Cobb first grabbed the airplane controls on her dad’s lap when she was only 12.

Born in Norman, Oklahoma in 1931, she grew up watching her dad fly as a military pilot and quickly fell in love with flying herself.

Her family moved around during her childhood for her father’s job, but Oklahoma always felt like home. At Faver High School in Guthrie, she kept up with schoolwork while feeding her growing love for flying.

By 18, she got her commercial pilot license, making her one of the youngest female pilots in America.

She Broke Three World Records Before Age 30

Flying came naturally to Cobb, and she quickly proved herself among the best pilots around. In 1959, she set three world flying records that turned heads across the industry.

She flew nonstop for longer distances than anyone in her aircraft class, set a new light-plane speed record, and climbed to 37,010 feet, pushing her small aircraft to its limits.

Companies hired her to deliver planes across continents, and she earned respect in the male-filled flying world for her skills and boldness on tough flights.

A Doctor Called With A Secret Space Test Offer

In February 1960, Cobb got a phone call that changed her life. Dr. illiam Lovelace asked her to come to his clinic in Albuquerque for astronaut testing.

Lovelace wasn’t just any doctor – he created the 75 tough physical tests used to check NASA’s Mercury 7 astronauts.

There was a catch: this was a private project, not backed by NASA.

Cobb jumped at the chance anyway and became the first woman to go through the same brutal medical tests made for spaceflight hopefuls.

Her Test Results Beat Most Male Astronauts

Cobb passed all 75 tests over several weeks at the Lovelace Foundation.

Her results amazed the medical team – she ranked in the top 2 percent of all people tested, doing better than many male astronauts.

She stayed in the isolation tank, floating in complete darkness and silence longer than most men could handle. She did the same bicycle tests, eye exams, and balance challenges as the Mercury 7.

When Lovelace shared her results, newspapers across the country ran stories about women possibly becoming astronauts.

Twelve More Women Pilots Joined The Secret Program

After Cobb did so well, Lovelace brought in 12 more skilled women pilots for the same tests. Each woman had thousands of flying hours and great aviation skills.

The group included Jane Hart, wife of Senator Philip Hart of Michigan, and Wally Funk, who at just 23 was the youngest.

Through 1960 and early 1961, these women went to the Lovelace Foundation for testing, paying their own way and taking time off work.

All 13 women passed the Phase I medical and physical testing, forming what people later called the “Mercury 13.”

The Tests Got Harder With Each New Phase

Lovelace planned a three-part program to fully check if the women were fit for space travel. Phase I covered full medical exams at his Albuquerque center.

Phase II looked at mental health to see if they could handle being alone in space.

Phase III, set for September 1961, would happen at Naval Air Station Pensacola for testing in jet aircraft and fake weightlessness. Cobb finished all three phases before the program suddenly ended.

The final testing needed military buildings and gear, which seemed ready until just days before it was to start.

A Telegram Crushed Their Space Dreams

Just days before the women were to show up at Pensacola Naval Air Station in September 1961, bad news hit. Officials at the base found out the women’s program had no official NASA backing.

The Navy quickly took back permission to use their buildings for the Phase III testing.

Lovelace sent telegrams to all the women, suddenly stopping the program with little reason beyond the buildings no longer being open to them.

The women got no official reason why their testing couldn’t go on.

Two Female Pilots Faced Congress To Fight For Space

Cobb refused to give up. On July 17, 1962, she and fellow Mercury 13 member Jane Hart spoke to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics about unfair treatment of women in the space program.

They showed strong proof that women had proven they could physically handle space travel through the Lovelace tests.

They asked why NASA kept out skilled women pilots from the astronaut program despite passing the same medical tests as male astronauts. Their words made headlines across the country.

America’s First Man In Space Blocked Women From Following Him

The same day Cobb spoke, astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter faced Congress to defend NASA’s men-only rule.

Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, said that “men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes” as his reason.

NASA officials claimed astronauts needed military jet test pilot experience, which women couldn’t get because the military kept them from combat aircraft training.

The committee sided with NASA, accepting the circular logic that blocked women.

The Russians Sent A Woman To Space First

Just three months after the Congressional talks, the Soviet Union launched Valentina Tereshkova aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963.

Tereshkova became the first woman in space while America’s skilled women pilots watched from the ground. The Soviet success handed them another space race win that could have gone to America.

Cobb openly shared her frustration that politics, not physical abilities, kept American women from reaching orbit. NASA stuck to its men-only policy for over a decade more.

She Flew Jungle Missions While Waiting For A Call That Never Came

NASA finally opened the astronaut program to women in 1978, sixteen years after Cobb’s testimony. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983, twenty years after Tereshkova.

Meanwhile, Cobb found a different calling. She spent the next five decades flying humanitarian missions over the Amazon rainforest, delivering medicine and supplies to remote indigenous tribes.

She received numerous aviation awards for her service, including Nobel Peace Prize nominations, but never got the spaceflight opportunity she earned through her test results.

Cobb died in 2019 at age 88, her dream of reaching space unfulfilled despite her extraordinary qualifications.

Visiting Guthrie,Oklahoma

While Jerrie Cobb grew up flying in Guthrie, you’ll need to visit Oklahoma City to learn about her astronaut story.

The Ninety-Nines Museum of Women Pilots at 4300 Amelia Earhart Drive near Will Rogers World Airport costs $10 for adults and opens Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 4pm.

You can also see Cobb featured in the Changemakers exhibit at Oklahoma Hall of Fame Gaylord-Pickens Museum on 1400 Classen Drive for $7 admission.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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