When Three Women Trained in Apollo Space Suits
My new book, Fighting for Space, comes out on February 18, 2020. It’s the incredible true story of the female pilots who each dreamed of being the first American woman in space. This story isn’t related, but it is something interesting I dug up in the research process. For more about my book and for pre-order information, visit my website and be sure to follow me on Twitter for updates on signed copies and availability.
All of NASA’s history is stored in an unassuming basement office in the agency’s Washington headquarters. You’re unlikely to run into an astronaut down there, and this isn’t where lunar spacesuits live. Still, if you’re someone who loves uncovering the past, that basement is incredible. You go down looking for something and wind up discovering all kinds of gems you didn’t know you wanted to find. Case in point: this picture of three women in what are unmistakably Apollo-era spacesuits. The back story, it turns out, is all about Spacelab and the earliest plans to include women in the astronaut corps.
The early 1970s saw NASA trying to figure out what to do after the Moon. Budgets were shrinking fast, and NASA needed a goal that would push the country forward in space while leveraging its existing hardware and nation-wide network of contractors. To this end, there was talk of Mars missions, proposals to take Apollo hardware…
