Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream

by Tanya Lee Stone Degree in English from Oberlin College

Overview

They had the right stuff. They defied the prejudices of the time. And they blazed a trail for generations of women to follow.

What does it take to be an astronaut? Excellence at flying, courage, intelligence, resistance to stress, top physical shape -- any checklist would include these. But when America created NASA in 1958, there was another unspoken rule: you had to be a man. Here is the tale of thirteen women who proved that they were not only as tough as the toughest man but also brave enough to challenge the government. They were blocked by prejudice, jealousy, and the scrawled note of one of the most powerful men in Washington. But even though the Mercury 13 women did not make it into space, they did not lose, for their example empowered young women to take their place in the sky, piloting jets and commanding space capsules. ALMOST ASTRONAUTS is the story of thirteen true pioneers of the space age.
Back matter includes an author’s note, an appendix, further reading, a bibliography, sources, source notes, and an index.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763656096
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/27/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	459,496
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	10 Years

About the Author

Tanya Lee Stone is a former editor and award-winning author who often writes about strong women. She has garnered starred reviews and other accolades for books such as Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald and the highly popular Amelia Earhart. She lives in Vermont. Attending Texas Book Festival in November 08.

Tanya Lee Stone is the Robert F. Sibert Award–winning author of Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. Her latest book, Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles was a 2014 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist.



I grew up on the beach on Long Island Sound, so tide pools and jetties were my playground. I always read a ton of books, and would take out more than I could carry from the library on the weekends. My dad is a professor and writer and my mom was an elementary-school librarian, so books were everywhere in our house. My dad built me a kid-size reading loft only I could climb up to—I spent hours up there! In high school, I studied music at a performing arts high school. In college I was an English major at Oberlin, which gave me the perfect excuse to spend all my time reading and writing. And after college I was an editor until I moved to Vermont in 1996 and became a writer.


I love to write stories about ordinary people who do extraordinary things and shine the light on their little-known stories. Change happens slowly, many times because people quietly push through barriers and move things forward until—bam!— someone else makes a big splash. But headline-makers often stand on the shoulders of those who first paved the way for them to follow. You can read about some of these trailblazers in my books Almost Astronauts and Courage Has No Color.

Three Things You Might Not Know About Me:

1. If I had to choose a different job, I would want to be on Broadway, singing in a musical!
2. I have climbed into a tank of harbor seals wearing thigh-high rubber boots in order to help a veterinarian give some friendly harbor seals an annual exam— all in the name of research.They are cute, but they will bite for food!
3. I have a mini-poodle named Barney who likes to climb in between my pillows when he naps during the day.

Editorial Reviews

Enlivened by numerous b&w and color photographs, this thorough book takes readers back to the early 1960s to tell the story of 13 women who underwent a battery of physical endurance tests (including hours spent in a deprivation tank) and psychological analysis to determine their readiness to travel in space. A gripping narrative surfaces in Stone's text, as the women are repeatedly thwarted by NASA, discriminated against and patronized by society ("Gene Nora Stumbough's boss said she couldn't have time off. So she quit. Sarah Gorelick had the same problem.... So she quit"). Readers with an interest in history and in women's struggle for equality will undoubtedly be moved. Ages 10-up. (Feb.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 5-7

Stone adopts a tone of righteous indignation in chronicling the quixotic efforts of 13 women to win admission into NASA's initial astronaut training program in the early 1960s. The women were all pilots (one, Jerrie Cobb, had more hours in the air than John Glenn or Scott Carpenter), earned high scores in preliminary tests, and even counted a senator's wife among their number. But resistance came from all directions-including NASA regulations, which were weighted toward men; media coverage that reflected contemporary gender expectations; political maneuvering by then vice president LBJ and other officials; and the crushing opposition expressed by renowned aviatrix Jackie Cochran in a 1962 Congressional hearing. Properly noting, however, that losing "depends on where you draw the finish line," the author closes with chapters on how women did ultimately win their way into space-not only as mission specialists, but also as pilots and commanders. Illustrated with sheaves of photos, and based on published sources, recently discovered documents, and original interviews with surviving members of the "Mercury 13," this passionately written account of a classic but little-known challenge to established gender prejudices also introduces readers to a select group of courageous, independent women.-John Peters, New York Public Library

School Library Journal

The fascinating, dramatic story of the "Mercury 13," a group of women aviators who proved to be as courageous, intelligent and fit as any man, but who were nonetheless barred from NASA's astronaut program because of their gender. At the center of the story is Jerrie Cobb, a veteran pilot who successfully completed every test given to male astronauts. Her performance, and that of the others, proved women had the "right stuff," but these findings were not enough to overcome the prevailing prejudices of the time. It took 20 years before NASA admitted women into the astronaut program. Stone poignantly chronicles how the efforts of Cobb and her colleagues were ridiculed and thwarted by everyone from Vice President Lyndon Johnson to Mercury astronauts Scott Carpenter and John Glenn and-in a bitter irony-Jackie Cochran, a highly respected, trailblazing female pilot who appeared to be motivated by jealousy and spite. The author offers great insight into how deeply ingrained sexism was in American society and its institutions. Handsomely illustrated with photographs, this empowering, impassioned story will leave readers inspired. (foreword, source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

Stone presents the full story of early-sixties public discourse about women’s capabilities and clearly shows the personal, political, and physical risks taken by the women in pursuit of their dream.
—The Horn Book (starred review)

Readers with an interest in history and in women's struggle for equality will undoubtedly be moved.
—Publishers Weekly

This passionately written account of a classic but little-known challenge to established gender prejudices also introduces readers to a select group of courageous, independent women.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

From the Publisher