Excellent look at NASA's Space Program during the 1960s. Looks at why NASA ignored women as potential astronauts when scientific and medical tests conducted in the late 1950s indicated that women were capable of being astronauts. These tests were done by Dr. William Randolph Lovelace and funded by Jacqueline Cochran. The author looks at the women tested and shows why their "desire to serve their country fell victim to their country's suspicion of -and hostility to - such aspirations." The author paints a very interesting picture of Jackie Cochran that explains much of her confusing actions - since Cochran's "method of operation" depended on her being the only woman among influential men...she was uninterested in helping other women into that group. Although she was a successful powerful woman in an era when most women were not, she was the typical "man's woman" comfortable around men, who sincerely liked men, but who influenced men by using her looks and her status as a lady. When she funded Lovelace's Woman in Space Program, she wanted to make certain that she received publicity and credit for doing so (and regretted that in her 50s and with a heart problem she was too old to be an astronaut candidate).

A little too dry for my leisure reading taste, but I did find the pilot stuff particularly interesting. It might be good for a [b: Code Name Verity|11925514|Code Name Verity (Code Name Verity, #1)|Elizabeth Wein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388161911s/11925514.jpg|16885788] fan who wants more of the aeronautics details.

Really enjoyed the book. Informative and easy to read. An interesting subject ( )

While nominally about the abortive attempt to have the United States be the first to put a woman in space, to a large degree this monograph is about the friendship between the aviatrix Jackie Cochrane and Randy Lovelace, one of the founders of aerospace science. Without their personal and professional relationship the so-called "Woman in Space Program" would have not gotten far enough to raise male disdain and create public relations issues in the first place, thus tying into Weitekamp's wider theme of the efforts of women to carve out an independent place for themselves in aviation in the Cold War era. ( )