{"id":29921366,"date":"2026-10-28T11:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/mercury-13-women-astronaut-tests-jerrie-cobb-wally-funk\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T11:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:59:20","slug":"mercury-13-women-astronaut-tests-jerrie-cobb-wally-funk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/mercury-13-women-astronaut-tests-jerrie-cobb-wally-funk\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercury 13: The Women Who Passed NASA&#8217;s Astronaut Tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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They swallowed rubber tubes, had ice water poured into their ears and pedalled weighted bicycles to exhaustion. They passed. Not one of them was ever allowed anywhere near a NASA spacecraft.<\/p>\n\n<p>The press later named them the Mercury 13. In July 2026 the last of them, Wally Funk, died in Texas at 87, five years after finally flying to space on a private rocket at the age of 82. Their story is one of the great \"what ifs\" of the space race.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border:1px solid #e2e7ee;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Program:<\/strong> Lovelace \"Woman in Space Program\" (private, not NASA)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Run by:<\/strong> Dr. William Randolph \"Randy\" Lovelace II, Albuquerque<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Funded by:<\/strong> Aviator Jacqueline Cochran<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Tested:<\/strong> 19 women; 13 passed Phase I<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>First to pass all phases:<\/strong> Jerrie Cobb<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Ended:<\/strong> Planned Navy tests at Pensacola cancelled, 1961<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Congressional hearing:<\/strong> 17-18 July 1962<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Wally Funk's spaceflight:<\/strong> 20 July 2021, Blue Origin NS-16, aged 82<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A doctor's private experiment<\/h2>\n\n<p>The tests were not a NASA programme. They were the work of Dr. William Randolph \"Randy\" Lovelace II, whose clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, had examined the finalists for the Mercury Seven and who helped develop NASA's astronaut medical tests. In 1960, together with US Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Flickinger, he invited a record-setting pilot named Geraldyn \"Jerrie\" Cobb to take the same examinations.<\/p>\n\n<p>Cobb had about 7,000 flying hours and a light-aircraft altitude record of 37,010 feet. She passed, and Lovelace announced her results at a space medicine symposium in Stockholm in August 1960. She went on to become the first American woman to pass all three phases of testing, ranking in the top 2 percent of all candidates of either sex.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/jerrie-cobb-mastif-gimbal-rig-nasa-1960.jpg\" alt=\"Jerrie Cobb preparing to operate the MASTIF gimbal rig at NASA Lewis in 1960\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Jerrie Cobb prepares to operate the Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility, the \"gimbal rig\", at NASA's Lewis Research Center in April 1960. NASA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Lovelace widened the programme. About 25 women pilots, many recruited through the Ninety-Nines, were invited; 19 were tested at the clinic by the summer of 1961, and 13 passed Phase I. Aviator Jacqueline Cochran and her husband paid for the testing. The tests included X-rays, swallowing a rubber tube to measure stomach acid, electric shocks to test nerve reflexes, ice water in the ears to induce vertigo and exhaustion runs on weighted stationary bicycles.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Cancelled by telegram<\/h2>\n\n<p>The next stage was to be at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Florida. A few days before the women were due to report, telegrams cancelled it. Without an official NASA request, the US Navy would not allow its facilities to be used for an unofficial project, and NASA was not asking.<\/p>\n\n<p>Cobb and Jane \"Janey\" Hart, a pilot and the wife of Senator Philip Hart, took the fight to Washington. In July 1962 a special House subcommittee held two days of hearings on whether women should be astronauts.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;We seek, only, a place in our Nation's space future without discrimination.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Jerrie Cobb<\/strong> &mdash; pilot and Lovelace test subject, testimony to the House special subcommittee, 17 July 1962<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Let's face it: For many women the PTA just is not enough.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Jane \"Janey\" Hart<\/strong> &mdash; pilot and Lovelace test subject, testimony to the House special subcommittee, July 1962<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>NASA's George Low and the astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter testified that NASA's requirements, a military jet test pilot background and an engineering degree, excluded women. Glenn conceded he had joined Project Mercury without the required degree. The subcommittee was sympathetic and did nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>John Glenn<\/strong> &mdash; Mercury astronaut, testimony to the House special subcommittee, July 1962<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7GgER2Uxmcs\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">Space historian Amy Shira Teitel on NASA, politics and the Mercury 13 (TEDx).<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Tereshkova, Ride and the long wait<\/h2>\n\n<p>In June 1963 the Soviet Union put Valentina Tereshkova into orbit aboard Vostok 6, the first woman in space. NASA did not select its first women astronaut candidates until 1978, and Sally Ride flew in 1983. When Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle, on STS-63 in February 1995, she invited seven of the Mercury 13 women to watch her launch.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/jerrie-cobb-mercury-capsule-nasa-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Jerrie Cobb beside a Mercury capsule\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Jerrie Cobb with a Mercury capsule. She passed every phase of Lovelace's tests but was never allowed to train as a NASA astronaut. NASA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Wally Funk was the youngest of the group, only 21 when she volunteered in 1961. She went on to become the National Transportation Safety Board's first female air safety investigator, and she never stopped wanting to go to space. On 20 July 2021 she finally did, aboard Blue Origin's first crewed New Shepard flight from west Texas, alongside Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. At 82 she was, at the time, the oldest person ever to fly to space.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;I have been waiting a long time to finally get up there ... I want to go again, fast.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Wally Funk<\/strong> &mdash; after her Blue Origin flight, 20 July 2021 (collectSPACE)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Funk died in Grapevine, Texas, in July 2026. With her, the last of the thirteen women who passed the astronaut tests in 1961 is gone, and so is the last living link to the space programme America almost had.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DRUQOETsEk0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">Jerrie Cobb on the need to send women to space, in a 1963 CBC interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KCNlxwSv4wA\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">Reuters on Wally Funk joining Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin's first crewed flight in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>Sources: NASA History (Margaret Weitekamp), NASA Glenn Research Center, Library of Congress, JSTOR Daily, History.com, collectSPACE, NBC News, Wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Who were the Mercury 13?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women pilots who passed the same Phase I astronaut fitness tests as the Mercury Seven at Dr. Randy Lovelace's clinic in 1960 and 1961: Jerrie Cobb, Wally Funk, Janey Hart, Myrtle Cagle, Jan and Marion Dietrich, Jean Hixson, Irene Leverton, Sarah Gorelick, Jerri Sloan, Rhea Hurrle, Gene Nora Stumbough and Bernice Steadman.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was the Mercury 13 program run by NASA?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No. The Mercury 13 testing was the Lovelace Woman in Space Program, a private project run by Dr. William Randolph Lovelace II and paid for by aviator Jacqueline Cochran. NASA never sanctioned it, which is why historians call the name Mercury 13 a misnomer; the women called themselves FLATs, for Lady Astronaut Trainees.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why were the Mercury 13 tests at Pensacola cancelled?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Mercury 13 women were due to take advanced tests at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Florida, in 1961. A few days before they were to report, telegrams cancelled the testing, because without an official NASA request the US Navy would not let its facilities be used for an unofficial project.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What did John Glenn say at the 1962 Mercury 13 hearing?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">At the House special subcommittee hearing of 17 and 18 July 1962, astronaut John Glenn testified alongside Scott Carpenter and NASA's George Low that NASA's requirements excluded women. Glenn told lawmakers that the fact that women were not in the field was a fact of the social order. The subcommittee took no action.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did Jerrie Cobb perform in the Lovelace astronaut tests?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Jerrie Cobb, a record-setting pilot with about 7,000 flying hours, was the first woman invited by Dr. Randy Lovelace and the first American woman to pass all three phases of testing. Her first results were announced in Stockholm in August 1960, and she ranked in the top 2 percent of all astronaut candidates.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>When did Wally Funk finally fly to space?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Wally Funk, the youngest of the Mercury 13, flew to space on 20 July 2021 aboard Blue Origin's first crewed New Shepard flight with Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos and Oliver Daemen. Aged 82, she became the oldest person to fly to space at the time. Funk, the last surviving member, died in July 2026 aged 87.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who were the Mercury 13?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women pilots who passed the same Phase I astronaut fitness tests as the Mercury Seven at Dr. Randy Lovelace's clinic in 1960 and 1961: Jerrie Cobb, Wally Funk, Janey Hart, Myrtle Cagle, Jan and Marion Dietrich, Jean Hixson, Irene Leverton, Sarah Gorelick, Jerri Sloan, Rhea Hurrle, Gene Nora Stumbough and Bernice Steadman.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Was the Mercury 13 program run by NASA?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"No. The Mercury 13 testing was the Lovelace Woman in Space Program, a private project run by Dr. William Randolph Lovelace II and paid for by aviator Jacqueline Cochran. 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Funk, the last surviving member, died in July 2026 aged 87.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/elinor-smith-flying-flapper-east-river-bridges-1928-records\/\">Elinor Smith: The Flying Flapper Who Flew Under Four Bridges<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/mary-ellis-ata-pilot-400-spitfires-without-radio\/\">Mary Ellis: The ATA Pilot Who Flew 400 Spitfires Without a Radio<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/nancy-harkness-love-wafs-founder-wasp-ferry-pilots-b-17\/\">Nancy Harkness Love: The Pilot Who Founded the WAFS<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/jacqueline-cochran-she-founded-the-wasps-then-broke-the-sound-barrier\/\">Jacqueline Cochran: She Founded the WASPs \u2014 Then Broke the Sound Barrier<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this story In 1960 and 1961, thirteen American women pilots went through the same punishing medical tests used to pick the Mercury Seven astronauts. They swallowed rubber tubes, had ice water poured into their ears and pedalled weighted bicycles to exhaustion. They passed. Not one of them was ever allowed anywhere near a NASA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29921185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29921366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mercury 13 Women: The Astronauts NASA Never Flew<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Mercury 13 women passed Lovelace&#039;s astronaut tests in 1960-61, then saw Pensacola cancelled and Congress do nothing. 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