FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2009
Contact: Donna Krupa
Office: (301) 634-7209
dkrupa@the-aps.org
A Woman in Space
Two men
of the 1950s showed that women have “The Right Stuff” to be astronauts.
Newly discovered data shows aerobic exercise capacity of top four female was
comparable to those of males
 BETHESDA,
Md. (October 6, 2009) — In the
early years of the “space race” (1957-1975) two men sought to test a
scientifically simple yet culturally complicated theory: that women might be
innately better suited for space travel than men. In 1960 the thought of a
woman in space was a radical one, and justifiably so. On the ground 75% of
American women did not work outside the home and females were banned from
military flight service altogether. In marriage, wives were required to have
their husband’s permission to take out a bank loan, buy property, or
purchase large household goods such as a refrigerator. Despite the social
odds, a Harvard-educated surgeon and a U.S. Air Force General sought to
determine if, from a purely practical perspective, women were suitable for
space flight.
The latest look at the intersection of physiology,
spaceflight and politics is captured in a new article entitled “A Forgotten
Moment in Physiology: The Lovelace Woman in Space Program (1960-1962),”
written by Kathy Ryan, Jack Loeppky and Donald Kilgore*. Their article
appears in the September edition of Advances in Physiology (http://advan.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/33/3/157),
a publication of the American Physiological Society (APS;
www.the-aps.org/press). The APS has been an integral part of the
scientific discovery process since it was founded in 1887.
The Mercury 7
In 1957, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
launched Sputnik, the first unmanned orbital satellite, thus formalizing the
race for space. The following year the U.S. government established the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and in April 1959, NASA
introduced the seven men who would comprise the first American astronaut
group, better known as the Mercury 7 crew. Individually, the Mercury
members made six flights between 1961 and 1963 of which two would reach
space, defined as 62 miles above earth. In 1962, John Glenn became the first
American to orbit the earth.
Two Men’s Vision for Space
Sometime before the mid-1950s two men had begun to
seriously discuss the possibility of sending a woman rather than a man into
space. One of the men was William R. (“Randy”) Lovelace, II, a
Harvard-educated physician, surgeon and aeromedical physiologist. During his
years at the Mayo Clinic Lovelace co-developed a much-needed high altitude
mask that delivered oxygen to pilots while in flight. At the time, aircraft
cabins were not pressurized which lead to hypoxia-induced errors and
accidents by pilots. Upon leaving Mayo he established the private Lovelace
Foundation for Medical Education and Research, which received government
contracts throughout the ‘50s to conduct aerospace research. Lovelace was
also among the team of experts who developed the physiological, medical and
psychological criteria by which astronaut candidates were assessed and
selected, including the Mercury 7 team.
General Donald Flickinger, Air Force chief of
bioastronautics at the Air Force Air Research and Development Command (ARDC),
was a member of the NASA Special Advisory Committee on Life Sciences and a
friend and oft-time collaborator with Lovelace. In 1959 Flickinger
established the Woman in Space Earliest (WISE) program at ARDC. Thereafter,
he and Lovelace began to contemplate plans for testing women in space.
Their proposition was based purely on physiology and
practicality. They recognized that women’s lighter weights would reduce the
amount of propulsion fuel being used by the rocket’s load and that women
would require less auxiliary oxygen than men. They knew that women had fewer
heart attacks than men and their reproductive system was thought to be less
susceptible to radiation than a male’s. Finally, preliminary data suggested
that women could outperform men in enduring cramped spaces and prolonged
isolation.
The Mercury 13 Women
Before WISE testing could begin the Air Force announced
that it would no longer pursue the program. In response, Lovelace
established a privately funded effort, the Woman in Space Program, in 1959.
A total of 19 women were enrolled, most of whom had been selected from
flight schools.
The women underwent the identical tests that the male
candidates had undergone. In the end, 68% of the women passed with “no
medical reservations” compared to 56% of the men. The 13 females who passed
were known as the Mercury 13. They were Bernice “Bea” Steadman, Janey Hart,
Geraldine “Jerri” Sloan Truhill, Rhea Allison Woltman, Sarah Lee Gorelick
Ratley, Jan Dietrich, Marion Dietrich, Myrtle Cagle, Irene Leverton, Gene
Nora Jessen, Jean Hixson, Wally Funk and Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb.
Lost and Found: Data on Female Applicants
The data collected from these women from their
physiological testing were never published and had apparently been lost. Dr.
Loeppky, one of the co-authors of the article, had worked with Dr. Ulrich
Luft, an eminent physiologist who had performed the original aerobic
exercise capacity tests on both the female and male astronaut candidates.
For the first time, the current paper summarizes these physiological data,
demonstrating that the aerobic capacities of the top four women were
comparable to those of male pilots of the time.
Jerrie Cobb
Jerrie Cobb was the first female to volunteer for the
program. Having taken up flying at just age 12, she held numerous world
aviation records for speed, distance and altitude, and had logged more than
10,000 hours of flight time. Of the Mercury 7 astronauts, John Glenn had the
most flight experience at a total of 5,100 hours.
Cobb had undergone a standard battery of personality
and intelligence tests, EEG and neurological tests and psychiatric
interviews. On the final day of advanced testing she was immersed in a
soundproof isolation tank filled with cold water in order to induce total
sensory deprivation. Based on previous experiments in several hundred
subjects, it was thought that six hours was the absolute limit of tolerance
for the experiment before the onset of hallucinations. Cobb, however, spent
more than nine hours in the water, before the staff terminated the
experiment.
All told, Cobb had tested in the top 2% of all tested
candidates, male and female. In May 1961 Cobb received an informal
invitation to undergo spaceflight stimulation training at the U.S. Naval
School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, FL. After ten days of testing, she
had scored as well as experienced Navy pilots and plans were made to test
the remaining 12 women.
Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran
Jackie Cochran was the leading woman in American
aviation in 1960. During World War II, she founded and led the Women
Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) to fly military aircraft domestically (thus
freeing up male pilots for combat service). In 1953, she was the first woman
to break the sound barrier. Although she knew of the Woman in Space project,
and did not meet the qualifications for testing, she believed she had been
deprived of a leadership role in the program. In the end, however, she and
her husband agreed to fund the Pensacola testing for the 12 women.
The End of a Vision
Despite Cochran’s funding and the promising results,
the Pensacola testing had not been authorized and the military would not
move forward. Lovelace could not pursue the Woman in Space program further.
Cobb assumed the de facto leadership of the women and began extensive
lobbying efforts. In a meeting with then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson, he
expressed no support for the program. Embittered by her experience Jerrie
Cobb continued to lobby until 1965. For the next five years she flew
missionary operations in the Amazon and in 1980 was nominated for the Nobel
Peace Prize for her efforts. It would be more than 30 years after the
testing that 11 of the 13 Mercury women would be reunited. This time, 1995,
they came to watch Eileen Collins pilot the first flight of the joint
Russian-American Space Program.
Conclusion
The vision of Lovelace and Flickinger to launch the
Woman in Space Program in 1959 was remarkable not only for the science it
attempted to discover, but for the times. The combination of this ingenuity
and the capability and willingness of the women in the program ultimately
allowed the space program to advance as far as it did.
See Photographs Online
View photographs online. The archives include:
*Information About the Authors
The authors of the
study are Dr. Kathy Ryan of the United States Army Institute of Surgical
Research at Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Dr. Jack Loeppky, formerly with
Research Section of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Albuquerque; and
Dr. Donald Kilgore, formerly with the Lovelace Foundation for Medical
Education and Research in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr. Loeppky has
previously unpublished physiological aerobic capacity data collected by his
former colleague, Dr. Ulrich Luft. Dr. Kilgore was one of the physicians
who performed medical testing on male astronaut candidates during the
Mercury program, as well as the female pilots that this article describes.
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Source: September 2009 edition of Advances in Physiology (http://advan.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/33/3/157),
a publication of the American Physiological Society (APS;
www.the-aps.org). To schedule an interview with Dr. Ryan please
contact Donna Krupa at 301.634.7209 or
DKrupa@the-APS.org. Key words: gender differences; history of physiology;
space physiology
Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are
the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as
representing those of the Department of Defense or Department of
the Army.
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