Gene Jessen | Credit to Netflix
Documentary "Mercury 13"
Jacqueline Cochran Breaking the Sound Barrier,
Breaking the Barriers of Her Generation
Email Interview with Mercury 13 Woman Gene Jessen
"During her extremely successful aviation career, she was a pilot, flight instructor, business owner, and published author who also participated in a private research program evaluating women’s potential as possible space travelers. At the Lovelace Medical Center in 1960, she was one of an elite group of women pilots who took the physical testing regimen used for NASA’s Mercury astronauts."
-Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Article about Gene Nora Jessen
Gene Nora Jessen, 1960's | Credit to History of Gamma Phi Beta
03/15/20
" Dear Anna Uszok,
(...) Re your questions, we may have made a weak path,(...) We certainly got the discussion going. Re difficult tests. We were so excited that it didn't matter. (...) I have said that the cancellation of further testing was the best thing that ever happened to me. As much as I liked flight instructing, I was ready to move on but had no incentive to do so. Since I had to quit my job I went job hunting and got on with Beech Aircraft Corporation flying everything they built, all across the country. At the time only two women in the country were flying for aircraft manufacturers. And that was also where I met my husband (60 years now).
I'll close in haste hoping that this will be helpful. Good luck!
Tailwinds always, Gene Nora Jessen"
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-Space Background, New York Post photograph