Although the Mercury 7 were popularised from their flights and the likes of movies like The Right Stuff, there was another group of potential astronauts - the Mercury 13 - who never got their dues.
The story goes that a flight surgeon named William Randolph Lovelace III wanted to investigate the effects of astronaut testing on women and set out to conduct a study on a group of thirteen pilots without the funding or backing of NASA. In 1960, Lovelace put Geraldyn Cobb through all three phases of astronaut testing and then went on to recruit a further nineteen women, thirteen of which passed all three phases of the same testing that the Mercury 7 went through.
It's an incredible story and, really, that's only the start of it as you see in the first trailer for Mercury 13. Also, check out this incredible poster too. Netflix people, if you're reading this, please send us one of these and tell us where we can get one.
Thanks.
