Flight Deck Podcast

Jerrie Cobb and the women behind the Women in Space program unsuccessfully lobbied Congress in 1962 to include women in astronaut training, but they still led the way for women’s inclusion in the aerospace industry. With the Women in Space Program being cancelled, the major players behind it—Jerrie Cobb, Jackie Cochran, and Janie Hart (the wife of a Michigan Senator)—met with Congress subcommittees in 1962 to get the program up and running. NASA astronauts also participated in these subcommittee hearings and John Glenn is quoted as saying that women participating in astronaut training would “ruin the social order.” Jackie Cochran wasn’t a huge help either during these hearings. She said that including women in astronaut training would slow down the program because women trainees would drop out due to marriage and family responsibilities. Janie Hart’s friend, Liz Carpenter—executive secretary to Vice President Johnson—managed to get a memo on the VP’s desk urging him to consider women for the space program.