Event Details and Registration

This presentation will explore the genesis of the Women in Space Program, the personalities involved, the physiological testing, and the social mores of the early 1960s that ultimately doomed the program.

Western Washington Fairgrounds are located in Puyallup, just off Hwy 512 at the corner of S. Meridian and 9th Avenue SW. Enter fairgrounds through the Blue Gate. Room B / Pioneer.

The Mercury 13: Woman in Space Program

Philip M. Tartalone, Ph.D., Aviation Program Coordinator Eastern Michigan University

On October 4, 1957, at the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the tiny satellite that triggered the Space Race. The launch inspired new political, technological, and scientific developments, and set the stage for a series of Russian “firsts.” The Soviets accomplished the first human space flight on April 12, 1961, by launching cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Subsequently, on June 16, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.These Soviet accomplishments drove the United States to catch up. Curiously, unlike the previous “firsts,” Tereshkova’s 1963 flight did not compel the U.S. to launch an American woman into orbit, even though, three years earlier, thirteen female pilots of the Women in Space Program were testing and passing the identical strenuous physiological exams that the male Mercury astronauts were undergoing. Unfortunately, these women never got the opportunity to fly.The Women in Space Program ran from 1960 to 1962 and produced the “Mercury 13,” the first U.S. women to test for space travel. This presentation will explore the genesis of the Women in Space Program, the personalities involved, the physiological testing, and the social mores of the early 1960s that ultimately doomed the program.