Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: America's First Women in Space Program by Margaret A. Weitekamp
2005
Weight: 12 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library
This book was great. The writing style was straight forward and factual so if you are not into history books this one will likely be a challenge for you, but the information inside of it is so important and so interesting. How has NASA managed to exist my whole lifetime without me ever hearing about so many amazing women? I keep having this moment. Watching Hidden Figures, reading this book, reading Rocket Girl. I had no idea. I was enthralled with each woman described within this book. I would get excited and try to remember every name and new detail so that I could share it later, but there was so much that I did not know, and I struggled to keep it all in my mind and accessible. I think this is a great starting point to a lot more reading!
In other news, the old NASA joke that if women are ever allowed in space it will be because men have been approved to have 120 lbs of recreational equipment....not cool. In another book I am reading currently (What Happened), Hillary Clinton talks about writing to NASA as a little girl. She wrote to them to say that she wanted to be an astronaut. They wrote her back that they do not have girl astronauts. Who does that? Even if it was true. Crushes a kid's dreams like that. I guess they were just trying to be honest, but come on NASA. You have disappointed me in so many ways, but I am determined to love you. The good news is that I bought this book in a NASA store at Cape Canaveral so I give them that. They were not trying to hide this discouraging history. Times truly have changed.
I have been reading about amazing and intelligent women who work so hard and are incredibly brilliant. They have dedicated their whole lives to what they find inspiring and important and never end up achieving their ultimate goals. I cannot help but think about how overwhelming the disappointment must have been when Jerrie Cobb realized she would never go to space. The moment when Hillary realized she lost the chance to be the first woman President of the United States of America...and to a heartless buffoon that sexually assaults women. I cannot think of anything more unfair, really. To work so hard and watch the bull in a china shop trample his way through and to the top. I think of Jill Tarter looking for extraterrestrial life and retiring with no proof that there is life out there. It is so frustrating and, at first look, makes me sad. Then, I think about all the amazing achievements these women did reach in their lifetimes and all of the people they influenced and touched--including someone who will become president, women astronauts that have been or are on their way to space, and the person that finally discovers and proves the existence of extraterrestrial life. I think of all the people who are inspired by these women and make their way in other arenas with them in their thoughts. I guess the cliche is true. It is much more about the journey than the destination. I hope that at some point I am able to look back on my life and feel that I used my passion to achieve something. Of course, if I were really really lucky, I might look back and see that I achieved THE life goal. I could be a Valentina Tereshkova and make it to space.
2005
Weight: 12 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library
This book was great. The writing style was straight forward and factual so if you are not into history books this one will likely be a challenge for you, but the information inside of it is so important and so interesting. How has NASA managed to exist my whole lifetime without me ever hearing about so many amazing women? I keep having this moment. Watching Hidden Figures, reading this book, reading Rocket Girl. I had no idea. I was enthralled with each woman described within this book. I would get excited and try to remember every name and new detail so that I could share it later, but there was so much that I did not know, and I struggled to keep it all in my mind and accessible. I think this is a great starting point to a lot more reading!
In other news, the old NASA joke that if women are ever allowed in space it will be because men have been approved to have 120 lbs of recreational equipment....not cool. In another book I am reading currently (What Happened), Hillary Clinton talks about writing to NASA as a little girl. She wrote to them to say that she wanted to be an astronaut. They wrote her back that they do not have girl astronauts. Who does that? Even if it was true. Crushes a kid's dreams like that. I guess they were just trying to be honest, but come on NASA. You have disappointed me in so many ways, but I am determined to love you. The good news is that I bought this book in a NASA store at Cape Canaveral so I give them that. They were not trying to hide this discouraging history. Times truly have changed.
I have been reading about amazing and intelligent women who work so hard and are incredibly brilliant. They have dedicated their whole lives to what they find inspiring and important and never end up achieving their ultimate goals. I cannot help but think about how overwhelming the disappointment must have been when Jerrie Cobb realized she would never go to space. The moment when Hillary realized she lost the chance to be the first woman President of the United States of America...and to a heartless buffoon that sexually assaults women. I cannot think of anything more unfair, really. To work so hard and watch the bull in a china shop trample his way through and to the top. I think of Jill Tarter looking for extraterrestrial life and retiring with no proof that there is life out there. It is so frustrating and, at first look, makes me sad. Then, I think about all the amazing achievements these women did reach in their lifetimes and all of the people they influenced and touched--including someone who will become president, women astronauts that have been or are on their way to space, and the person that finally discovers and proves the existence of extraterrestrial life. I think of all the people who are inspired by these women and make their way in other arenas with them in their thoughts. I guess the cliche is true. It is much more about the journey than the destination. I hope that at some point I am able to look back on my life and feel that I used my passion to achieve something. Of course, if I were really really lucky, I might look back and see that I achieved THE life goal. I could be a Valentina Tereshkova and make it to space.
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