Mercury 13

Jacqueline Cochran Breaking the Sound Barrier,
 Breaking the Barriers of Her Generation

Impact - Mercury 13 - Women Space Testing Program, 1959

Organized by Randolph Lovelace M.D. and Jackie Cochran.

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"Highly confidential experiments were conducted by the Air Force on the physiological characteristics and suitability of women for space flight."

-"American Women and Flight Since 1940" by Deborah Douglas p. 149

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"In the end, thirteen women passed the same physical examinations that the Lovelace Foundation had developed for NASA’s astronaut selection process."

-NASA article by Margaret A. Weitekamp

Mercury 13 Testing Gene Jessen | Credit to Museum of Women Pilots

Mercury 13 Testing | Credit to NASA

Cochran Recruited Women for the Project.

"I went through a list of the 99's, the prestigious women pilots' organization, and invited members to become part of an aerospace medical experiment."

-"Jackie Cochran An Autobiography" p. 317

"Jacqueline Cochran, the famous American aviatrix and an old friend of Dr. Lovelace, joined the recruiting effort."

- NASA History Article by Roger D. Launius

Cochran and Her Husband, Odlum, Funded Lovelace's Women Testing Project.

"I covered their travel and maintenance cost."

-"Jackie Cochran An Autobiography" p. 317


"Jacqueline Cochran, the famous pilot, businesswoman, and Lovelace’s old friend, joined the project as an advisor and paid all of the women’s testing expenses."

-NASA Article by Margaret A. Weitekamp

Jerrie Cobb, the first women to undertake the tests

 | Credit to NASA

Cochran Helped Test the Women

"These included numerous X-rays and a four-hour eye exam. A specially weighted stationary bicycle pushed the women to exhaustion while testing their respiration. The doctors had the women swallow a rubber tube so that they could test their stomach acids. A tilt table tested circulation. Using an electrical pulse, the physicians tested nerve reflexes in their arms. Ice water was shot into the women's ears to induce vertigo so that the doctors could time how quickly they recovered. They calculated the candidates' lean body mass using a nuclear counter in Los Alamos."

-NASA Article by Margaret A. Weitekamp

"Thirteen women were chosen for future training.(...) Jerrie Cobb, Wally Funk, Irene Leverton, Myrtle "K" Cagle, Janey Hart, Gene Nora Stumbough (Jessen), Jerri Sloan (Truhill), Rhea Hurrle (Woltman), Sarah Gorelick (Ratley), Bernice "B" Trimble Steadman, Jan Dietrich, Marion Dietrich and Jean Hixson."

-NASA Article, Women Who Reach for the Stars, 2005

7 of the Mercury 13 Women, 1995 | Credit to NASA

Mercury 13 Women Gene Jessen Lecture, reason for cancellation of tests | Credit to YouTube, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

"We got the news that the tests were cancelled and the reason was NASA(...) had no interest in testing women, they had no interest in female astronauts."

-Mercury 13 Women Gene Jessen Lecture, reason for cancellation of tests, YouTube, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

"We may have made a weak path, (...) We certainly got the discussion going."


-Personal Interview with Mercury 13 Women Ms. Jessen 03/15/20


-Personal Interview with Astronaut Anna Fisher, MD 03/12/20

"The first step in the space age was taken when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier."

"Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier" by R. Conrad Stein p. 26

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The first step for women in the space age was taken when Cochran broke the sound barrier in 1953.

"The American female astronauts who have had the honor of going into space owe a huge debt to the Mercury 13. The paved the way and demonstrated that women did indeed have the 'right stuff' to fly in space."

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-Space Background, New York Post photograph