Women in Space: 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity-Breaking Adventures

Women in Space: 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity-Breaking Adventures — page 7
4 INTRODUCTION could be done with a lighter load A woman astronaut would contribute less weight to the capsule and perhaps this was one contest the United States could win When the space program began women in the United States couldn’t get credit cards rent cars or obtain loans to buy houses You didn’t see female police officers or professional athletes When you turned on the television only male news casters delivered the nightly news In the late 1950s a woman often went from her parents home to a home with her husband Some stopped off at college along the way mainly women’s col leges or the few co-ed public colleges that existed Many private colleges didn’t admit women until the 1970s Princeton and Yale went co-ed in 1969 Dartmouth and Duke allowed women in 1972 Harvard waited until 1977 while Columbia held out until 1983 Today more than half of college students accepted in any program of higher education are women A small minority of women supported themselves some by performing traditionally male jobs Pilot Geraldyn Jerrie Cobb was an excellent professional pilot by the mid-1950s But whether she was demonstrating a new airplane or setting a world record she knew she had to look like a lady That meant wearing a dress heels and lipstick when she climbed into the cockpit When women were found who were capable of going into space the US government said no NASA was a men-only club with strong government ties The Soviets however said yes and put the first woman in space in 1963 Fifty years ago Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space Nineteen years later the Soviets would also put the second woman into space When the women’s movement hit the United States along with the Civil Rights Act which prohibited discrimination based on race or gende things started to change American