Mercury 13

Most harmful behavior is based in fear.

Protecting one’s perceived position in society…

protecting one’s territory, or one’s physical well-being.

But progress is inevitable.

This is Apollo Control. The situation is go for landing.

Repeat again, we are go for landing.

There was, at that time, a lot of prejudice.

Women astronauts. What a ridiculous idea.

Roger. You’re five by, Jim. We’re sailing free.

Okay, Jim. How do you read? Over.

I read you loud and clear. You sound beautiful.

I think we all know why it didn’t happen.

Okay. 300 feet.

Fifteen down.

Take over, Sarah.

It was a good old boy network.

And there was no such thing as a “good old girl” network.

Okay. Fuel is at ten percent.

I guess we did it so well, they didn’t like that. So…

Here comes the shadow.

Perfect place over here. I see a couple of big boulders, not too bad.

I still didn’t tell people that I wanted to be an astronaut.

I was just gonna do it.

You’re leveled off. Let her on down.

Okay. Seven, six percent. Pretty fast.

Contact. Stop!

Someone has to start the fight to change the opinion.

Someone has to lead the way.

That’s one small leap for a woman…

another giant step for mankind.

Surprise!

-How we doing? -Great.

Good to see you.

-Hi, honey. How are you? -Good.

-Good to see you, sweetheart. -Thank you. Nice to see you.

-What kind of airplane do you usually fly? -Usually a 172.

Although the last time, I was flying in a Cherokee.

So it doesn’t really matter. I’m used to a Piper from the days of my three Comanches.

-You’re the Comanche girl. I remember. -Yeah. Low-wing Comanches.

I’ve been very lucky, and I’ve been able to fly some Stearmans about once a month.

-Oh, good. -That’s great.

That’s the airplane that I owned when I was 20 years old out in California.

I was a very, very curious kid.

My first ride in an airplane was at nine years of age.

And it was wonderful. The freedom, the smell of the exhaust,

the air going over my hair.

It was me. It was part of me.

I had those wings on too.

I grew up in Minnesota.

Every day, I’d see this airplane flying overhead,

and I thought, “I could do that too.”

My parents didn’t like that idea.

People didn’t think it was for women at all, flying.

But I knew better, and I liked it and I did it.

I think your first solo is,

in all your flying experiences, you feel is your greatest accomplishment.

It was the thrill of going up and being free up there.

And you’d look down and you could get a proper perspective.

I always was very positive

about always willing to learn something new and have a new adventure.

There was a barnstormer coming into Flint,

and they were advertising rides.

B said that, from the moment she got in that plane and took off and looked down,

she said, “This is it. This is what I’m meant for.”

This is Janey’s official wedding picture.

My mother was a very well-off child

who took advantage of that to pursue the dreams that she always held.

Seventeen. You’re right.

My first experience of flight, um, was when I was very young.

Mother was the pilot.

And off we go, into the sky.

And Mother’s very delighted to just show her little girl

this is what you could do.

So we’re going higher and higher and higher

and closer and closer to the clouds.

I’m becoming a bit alarmed

because, in my mind, these clouds are solid

and we’re going to crash into them, and my mother is going to kill us.

As we get closer and closer, I said,

“Why are we going so close to the clouds? We’re gonna hit them.”

And she just-- She truly laughed and said, you know, “Watch this.”

And away we went, through and over the clouds.

Quite wonderful.

I still, as I lift off,

very often think, “Why me, God?"

"Why did I get to do this?”

I don’t think I needed a lot of encouragement.

I was raring to go. I just, I really loved flying.

There was always a certain amount of prejudice

about women getting into the men’s fields.

But there were stories of women making breakthroughs in aviation.

So I knew it was possible.

She’s out to break the women’s speed record: Jacqueline Cochran.

Takeoff at Detroit for the girl who now ranks as first lady of the sky.

Women are progressing rapidly.

The women’s record, made by a ladybird of France,

was 276 miles an hour.

Jacqueline flies 17 miles an hour faster than that.

She lands, and I wonder how she looks

after flying more than 293 miles an hour.

That’s fast enough to disarrange one’s hair.

Sure enough…

No, I never met Jackie Cochran. But I can tell you a Jackie Cochran story.

I was flying into Cincinnati,

and the tower gave me landing instructions.

And then I heard a woman’s voice.

She was flying a Lockheed Lodestar.

And I thought, “My word, what female pilot flies that big old Lockheed?”

The tower called her, and they said,

“Lockheed, you are lined up on the wrong runway.”

And she said,

“I’ll land on any goddamn runway I please.”

And of course I thought,

“Wow, I didn’t know you could say that on the radio.”

We didn’t really need a reason to invite Jacqueline Cochran to the program.

Our guest is probably the most distinguished woman pilot

in the world today.

It seems that you soloed at Roosevelt Field back in 1932.

- That is correct. And-- - Came in for a dead-stick landing.

Right. And it was 48 hours after I’d seen my first airplane on the ground.

How many hours of instruction had you had when you--

Five hours and five minutes.

But you’ve also done very well in the cosmetics business.

I did very well.

’Course it helped to be married to a millionaire, you admit that?

I was doing pretty well before I got married.

Jacqueline Cochran was an extraordinary gal.

She, uh... She was raised in poverty in the South.

She had formed her own company.

She met Floyd Odlum, who was,

prior to the war, he was the highest-paid CEO in the United States.

Jackie was very much of an individualist.

First woman to do this, first woman to do that.

And Jackie wanted to be a trailblazer.

- - Women with wings.

At Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas,

famous flyer Jacqueline Cochran gives her ferry pilot students

a last-minute inspection.

Then it’s off by plane for graduation ceremonies.

“Good-bye, Daughter. I’m working for the army now.”

Jackie Cochran headed up the WASP program during World War II,

the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, who flew all the airplanes.

That was the first time that happened.

They flew all the military airplanes, but they didn’t go to war.

What they did is that they provided ferrying capability.

They would pick up the aircraft from the factories

and fly them to a point where they would be turned over.

And these women flew these planes

with the same training, or less, that the men had,

and they had the same safety record.

So they proved they could fly those aircraft.

Nobody should ever tell a WASP that flying’s not a woman’s job.

They wouldn’t believe it any more than if it were said

a girl can’t be a good flyer and a woman, a woman at the same time.

After the war, they didn’t want to give that up.

They wouldn’t give up their independence.

A lot of ’em stayed in aviation.

And a lot of ’em didn’t want to go back to the kitchen.

They wanted their freedom again.

And these WASPs really were great mentors.

They organized these air races called the Powder Puff Derby.

The first one I flew in was ’52.

You know, when you’re 18, you don’t have fear,

and you don’t think of it as being brave.

You think of adventures and having fun.

Because 18-year-olds think nothing will ever happen to ’em.

You know, “Powder Puff Derby” has a great ring to it.

And it was always great to say, “Yeah, I flew the Powder Puff Derby.”

When you’re at the takeoff line and the flag drops,

you put the power to it, and you take off,

and I stayed very close to the runway to get my speed up.

The women that you meet who are flying in those air races are wonderful,

and they’re very inspiring.

And you make lifelong friends.

What a thrill it is to have won this 13th Annual All-Women International Air Race.

Mary and I feel very proud of this.

We’re real happy to be in Florida. What a wonderful state you have.

The air racing was very important.

It proved the mettle. It proved that these gals knew what they were doing.

The racing fraternity was very strong. The bond was very strong.

On October 4, 1957,

a world-stirring event took place.

Sputnik ! My word.

To see this thing going around the world.

Space was very, very exciting then. Everybody was into this space business.

I do remember Mother’s extraordinary enthusiasm

when she knew that the Sputnik was gonna be traversing in the sky.

She got us all out of the house and looking up at the sky, and just, I mean,

she had grapefruit juice in her hand, and she poured it all over herself.

She was just so excited.

How quickly it went from just sending up Sputniks …

and then sending up animals.

I think everybody was astounded at those accomplishments.

I remember the Russians had,

at that point in time, had succeeded in every single endeavor.

They were ahead of us.

The United States needed to catch up.

One of these seven young men will be the first American into space.

These are the astronauts.

United States Project Mercury.