In examining the experiences of the Fellow Lady Astronaut Trainees (as the candidates called themselves), this book documents the achievements and frustrated hopes of a remarkable group of women whose desire to serve their country fell victim to their country's suspicion of - and hostility to - such aspirations. Through archival research and interviews with participants, Weitekamp traces the rise and fall of the Woman in Space program within the context of Cold War American history: the thriving women's aviation culture of the 1950s, Jerrie Cobb's efforts to gain public and political support, the mysteriously abrupt cancellation of the testing program, and the 1962 congressional hearings that effectively denied women a role in America's space program for the next three decades.

Includes index.

Introduction -- "Going to town for the men of science": Randy Lovelace and Jackie Cochran -- "This Buck Rogers nonsense": aviation and aerospace medicine -- WASPs, whirly-girls, and ninety-nines: female pilots and postwar women's aviation -- "Should a girl be first in space?": Betty Skelton, Ruth Nichols, and Jerrie Cobb -- "Initial examinations for female astronaut candidates": Lovelace's Woman in Space program -- "I offer myself -- no less can I do": Jerrie Cobb, NASA, and the Pensacola cancellation -- "A fact of our social order": Jerrie Cobb, John Glenn, and the House Subcommittee hearings -- "Send Jerrie into space": several epilogues to Lovelace's Woman in Space program -- Conclusion.