Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
“Most harmful behavior is based in fear. Protecting one’s perceived position in society. Protecting one’s territory or one’s physical wellbeing. But progress is inevitable.”
These are the words that begin Netflix’s Mercury 13, a breathtaking documentary about the women who trained to be astronauts in the 1960s, but never made it to the space. Directed by David Sington and Heather Walsh, the film combines archival footage with interviews with the people who lived through it all and creates something truly special in the process. In 2016, Hidden Figures opened the door for little-known stories about women’s role in the space race, and Mercury 13 goes even deeper into the hopes, dreams, and realities of the women who gave their everything for a chance to reach for the stars.
When we talk about Kennedy-era space exploration, the names that come to mind all belong to a handful of men. They may have made history, but they weren’t the only ones clamoring for a shot to leave the planet. In the early 1960s, a physician named Dr. William Lovelace teamed up with pilot Jacqueline Cochran to found the Lovelace Clinic, a training program designed to see if women could be viable candidates for space missions. 25 women who attended the clinic went on to undergo intense physical and psychological testing at the same time as the original Mercury Seven. Just 13 made the cut, and some of these women even fared better than their male counterparts. “They had the ‘right stuff’ but were, unfortunately, the wrong gender,” the film tells us. Now in their 70s and beyond, the women tell us about their dreams, the rigorous testing, and the fallout – and it’s fascinating to hear about what they endured.
The odds were stacked against the women from the beginning. “It was a good ol’ boy network, and there was no such thing as a good ol’ girl network,” one pilot tells us. They learned to keep their dreams to themselves, because no one wanted to hear about aspiring female astronauts. “People didn’t think it was for women at all, flying,” says Rhea Woltman, acknowledging that men didn’t even like to see women flying planes. “But I knew better. And I liked it. And I did it.”
After NASA rejected them, the 13 went before Congress to argue that they’d been prevented from their goals of space travel on the grounds of sexual discrimination. The way the case unfolds is infuriating – but not all that surprising. Russia wound up sending the first woman into space in 1963, effectively shaming the U.S. in the process – but that didn’t spring NASA into action. A female-fronted shuttle did not make it to space until 1995, and while the culture has progressed since then, it’s hard not to wonder how history might have been different had these 13 women been given their fair shot. Hearing the women live through their experiences will make you feel inspired, excited, and ultimately, enraged for them – and against all odds, they remained resilient.
The women of Mercury 13 may not have made it to space, but they’ve spent the rest of their lives fighting; Janey Hart went on to be a founding member of NOW, Jerrie Cobb became an advocate for female flyers and used her aviation skills for humanitarian work, Janet Dietrich became the first woman to earn an Airline Transport Pilot License. They didn’t get the chance to take a step on the moon, but they still made a giant leap for womankind – and it’s about time their names were known.
